MARTIN    HEWITT. 


|    MARTIN    HEWITT    I 

INVESTIGATOR 


BY 

ARTHUR    MORRISON 


ILLUSTRATED 


HARPER  &  BROTHERS    PUBLISHERS 
NEW   YORK    AND    LONDON 

llllllilllllllllllllilllllllllllllllii 


PRINTED    IN    THE     UNITED    STATES    OF    AMERICA 

D-Q 


Mhyf 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

I.  THE  LENTON  CROPT  ROBBERIES 1 

H.  THE  LOSS  OP  SAMMY  CROCKETT 36 

HI.  THE  CASE  OP  MR.    POGGATT       .      * 69 

TV.  THE  CASE  OP  THE  DIXON  TORPEDO 98 

V.  THE  QUTNTON  JEWEL  AFFAIR    , 128 

VI.  THE  STANWAY  CAMEO  MYSTERY „      .  161 

VH.  THE  AFFAIR  OP  THE  TORTOISE 192 


M723532 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


MARTIN  HEWITT Frontispiece 

"'IS  THAT  LIKE   HIM?'" Facing  p.  142 

"'what!    you!'" "       208 


MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 


I.    THE  LENTOr  CROFT  ROBBERIES 

Those  who  retain  any  memory  of  the  great  law 
cases  of  fifteen  or  twenty  years  back  will  remem- 
ber, at  least,  the  title  of  that  extraordinary  will 
case,  "  Bartley  v.  Bartley  and  others,"  which 
occupied  the  Probate  Court  for  some  weeks  on  end, 
and  caused  an  amount  of  public  interest  rarely 
accorded  to  any  but  the  cases  considered  in  the 
other  division  of  the  same  court.  The  case  itself 
was  noted  for  the  large  quantity  of  remarkable  and 
unusual  evidence  presented  by  the  plaintiff's  side 
— evidence  that  took  the  other  party  completely  by 
surprise,  and  overthrew  their  case  like  a  house  of 
cards.  The  affair  will,  perhaps,  be  more  readily 
recalled  as  the  occasion  of  the  sudden  rise  to  emi- 
nence in  their  profession  of  Messrs.  Crellan,  Hunt 
&  Crellan,  solicitors  for  the  plaintiff — a  result  due 
entirely  to  the  wonderful  ability  shown  in  this 
case  of  building  up,  apparently  out  of  nothing, 
a  smashing  weight  of  irresistible  evidence.  That 
the  firm  has  since  maintained — indeed,  enhanced — 
the  position  it  then  won  for  itself  need  scarcely  be 
said  here  ;  its  name  is  familiar  to  every -body.  But 
there  are  not  many  of  the  outside  public  who  know 
that  the  credit  of  the  whole  performance  was  pri- 


2  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

marily  due  to  a  young  clerk  in  the  employ  of 
Messrs.  Crellan  who  had  been  given  charge  of  the 
seemingly  desperate  task  of  collecting  evidence  in 
the  case. 

This  Mr.  Martin  Hewitt  had,  however,  full  credit 
and  reward  for  his  exploit  from  his  firm  and  from 
their  client,  and  more  than  one  other  firm  of 
lawyers  engaged  in  contentious  work  made  good 
offers  to  entice  Hewitt  to  change  his  employers. 
Instead  of  this,  however,  he  determined  to  work 
independently  for  the  future,  having  conceived  the 
idea  of  making  a  regular  business  of  doing,  on 
behalf  of  such  clients  as  might  retain  him,  sim- 
ilar work  to  that  he  had  just  done  with  such 
conspicuous  success  for  Messrs.  Crellan,  Hunt  & 
Crellan.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  private 
detective  business  of  Martin  Hewitt,  and  his  action 
at  that  time  has  been  completely  justified  by  the 
brilliant  professional  successes  he  has  since 
achieved. 

His  business  has  always  been  conducted  in  the 
most  private  manner,  and  he  has  always  declined 
the  help  of  professional  assistants,  preferring  to 
carry  out  himself  such  of  the  many  investigations 
offered  him  as  he  could  manage.  He  has  always 
maintained  that  he  has  never  lost  by  this  policy, 
since  the  chance  of  his  refusing  a  case  begets  com- 
petition for  his  services,  and  his  fees  rise  by  a 
natural  process.  At  the  same  time,  no  man  could 
know  better  how  to  employ  casual  assistance  at  the 
right  time. 

Some  curiosity  has  been  expressed  as  to  Mr. 
Martin  Hewitt's  system,  and,  as  he  himself  always 


THE  LENTON   CROFT  ROBBERIES  3 

consistently  maintains  that  he  has  no  system  beyond 
a  judicious  use  of  ordinary  faculties,  I  intend  setting 
forth  in  detail  a  few  of  the  more  interesting  of  his 
cases  in  order  that  the  public  may  judge  for  itself 
if  I  am  right  in  estimating  Mr.  Hewitt's  "  ordinary 
f acuities' '  as  faculties  very  extraordinary  indeed. 
He  is  not  a  man  who  has  made  many  friendships 
(this,  probably,  for  professional  reasons),  notwith- 
standing his  genial  and  companionable  manners.  I 
myself  first  made  his  acquaintance  as  a  result  of  an 
accident  resulting  in  a  fire  at  the  old  house  in 
which  Hewitt's  office  was  situated,  and  in  an  upper 
floor  of  which  I  occupied  bachelor  chambers.  I  was 
able  to  help  in  saving  a  quantity  of  extremely  im- 
portant papers  relating  to  his  business,  and,  while 
repairs  were  being  made,  allowed  him  to  lock  them 
in  an  old  wall-safe  in  one  of  my  rooms  which  the 
fire  had  scarcely  damaged. 

The  acquaintance  thus  begun  has  lasted  many 
years,  and  has  become  a  rather  close  friendship.  I 
have  even  accompanied  Hewitt  on  some  of  his  expe- 
ditions, and,  in  a  humble  way,  helped  him.  Such 
of  the  cases,  however,  as  I  personally  saw  nothing 
of  I  have  put  into  narrative  form  from  the  partic- 
ulars given  me. 

"I  consider  you,  Brett,"  he  said,  addressing  me, 
"the  most  remarkable  journalist  alive.  Not  be- 
cause you' re  particularly  clever,  you  know,  because, 
between  ourselves,  I  hope  you'll  admit  you're  not ; 
but  because  you  have  known  something  of  me  and 
my  doings  for  some  years,  and  have  never  yet  been 
guilty  of  giving  away  any  of  my  little  business 
secrets  you  may  have    become  acquainted  with. 


4  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

I'm  afraid  you're  not  so  enterprising  a  journalist  as 
some,  Brett.  But  now,  since  you  ask,  you  shall 
write  something — if  you  think  it  worth  while." 

This  he  said,  as  he  said  most  things,  with  a  cheery, 
chaffing  good-nature  that  would  have  been,  perhaps, 
surprising  to  a  stranger  who  thought  of  him  only  as 
a  grim  and  mysterious  discoverer  of  secrets  and 
crimes.  Indeed,  the  man  had  always  as  little  of 
the  aspect  of  the  conventional  detective  as  may  be 
imagined.  Nobody  could  appear  more  cordial  or 
less  observant  in  manner,  although  there  was  to 
be  seen  a  certain  sharpness  of  the  eye — which 
might,  after  all,  only  be  the  twinkle  of  good- 
humor. 

I  did  think  it  worth  while  to  write  something  of 
Martin  Hewitt's  investigations,  and  a  description  of 
one  of  his  adventures  follows. 

At  the  head  of  the  first  flight  of  a  dingy  staircase 
leading  up  from  an  ever-open  portal  in  a  street  by 
the  Strand  stood  a  door,  the  dusty  ground-glass 
upper  panel  of  which  carried  in  its  centre  the  single 
word  "  Hewitt,"  while  at  its  right-hand  lower  cor- 
ner, in  smaller  letters,  "Clerk's  Office"  appeared. 
On  a  morning  when  the  clerks  in  the  ground-floor 
offices  had  barely  hung  up  their  hats,  a  short,  well- 
dressed  young  man,  wearing  spectacles,  hastening 
to  open  the  dusty  door,  ran  into  the  arms  of  another 
man  who  suddenly  issued  from  it. 

"  I  beg  pardon,"  the  first  said.  "  Is  this  Hewitt's 
Detective  Agency  Office  %  " 

"Yes,  I  believe  you  will  find  it  so,"  the  other 
replied.    He  was  a  stoutish,  clean-shaven  man,  of 


THE  LENTON  CROFT   ROBBERIES  5 

middle  height,  and  of  a  cheerful,  round  counte- 
nance.    "  You'd  better  speak  to  the  clerk.'5 

In  the  little  outer  office  the  visitor  was  met  by  a 
sharp  lad  with  inky  fingers,  who  presented  him  with 
a  pen  and  a  printed  slip.  The  printed  slip  having 
been  filled  with  the  visitor's  name  and  present 
business,  and  conveyed  through  an  inner  door,  the 
lad  reappeared  with  an  invitation  to  the  private 
office.  There,  behind  a  writing-table,  sat  the 
stoutish  man  himself,  who  had  only  just  advised 
an  appeal  to  the  clerk. 

"  Good-morning,  Mr.  Lloyd — Mr.  Vernon  Lloyd," 
he  said  affably,  looking  again  at  the  slip.     "  You'll 
excuse  my  care  to  start  even  with  my  visitors — 1^ 
must,  you  know.    You  come  from  Sir  James  Norris, 
I  see." 

"  Yes  ;  I  am  his  secretary.  I  have  only  to  ask 
you  to  go  straight  to  Lenton  Croft  at  once,  if  you 
can,  on  very  important  business.  Sir  James  would 
have  wired,  but  had  not  your  precise  address. 
Can  you  go  by  the  next  train  ?  Eleven-thirty  is 
the  first  available  from  Paddington." 

"  Quite  possibly.  Do  you  know  any  thing  of 
the  business  I" 

"  It  is  a  case  of  a  robbery  in  the  house,  or,  rather, 
I  fancy,  of  several  robberies.  Jewelry  has  been 
stolen  from  rooms  occupied  by  visitors  to  the  Croft. 
The  first  case  occurred  some  months  ago — nearly  a 
year  ago,  in  fact.  Last  night  there  was  another. 
But  I  think  you  had  better  get  the  details  on  the 
spot.  Sir  James  has  told  me  to  telegraph  if  you 
are  coming,  so  that  he  may  meet  you  himself  at 
the  station  ;'  and  I  must  hurry,  as  his  drive  to  the 


6  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

station  will  be  rather  a  long  one.     Then  I  take  it 
you  will  go,  Mr.  Hewitt  %    Twyford  is  the  station.'' 

"  Yes,  I  shall  come,  and  by  the  11.30.  Are 
you  going  by  that  train  yourself  I " 

"No,  I  have  several  things  to  attend  to  now  I 
am  in  town.     Good-morning ;  I  shall  wire  at  once." 

Mr.  Martin  Hewitt  locked  the  drawer  of  his 
table  and  sent  his  clerk  for  a  cab. 

At  Twyford  Station  Sir  James  Norris  was  waiting 
with  a  dog-cart.  Sir  James  was  a  tall,  florid  man 
of  fifty  or  thereabout,  known  away  from  home  as 
something  of  a  county  historian,  and  nearer  his 
own  parts  as  a  great  supporter  of  the  hunt,  and  a 
gentleman  much  troubled  with  poachers.  As  soon 
as  he  and  Hewitt  had  found  one  another  the  bar- 
onet hurried  the  detective  into  his  dog-cart.  '  *  We'  ve 
something  over  seven  miles  to  drive,"  he  said, 
"and  I  can  tell  you  all  about  this  wretched  busi- 
ness as  we  go.  That  is  why  I  came  for  you  myself, 
and  alone." 

Hewitt  nodded. 

"I  have  sent  for  you,  as  Lloyd  probably  told 
you,  because  of  a  robbery  at  my  place  last  evening. 
It  appears,  as  far  as  I  can  guess,  to  be  one  of  three 
by  the  same  hand,  or  by  the  same  gang.  Late 
yesterday  afternoon " 

"Pardon  me,  Sir  James,"  Hewitt  interrupted, 
"  but  I  think  I  must  ask  you  to  begin  at  the  first 
robbery  and  tell  me  the  whole  tale  in  proper  order. 
It  makes  things  clearer,  and  sets  them  in  their 
proper  shape." 

"  Yery  well !  Eleven  months  ago,  or  thereabout, 
I  had  rather  a  large  party  of  visitors,  and  among 


THE  LENTON  CROFT  ROBBEEIES  7 

them  Colonel  Heath  <  and  Mrs.  Heath — the  lady- 
being  a  relative  of  my  own  late  wife.  Colonel 
Heath  has  not  been  long  retired,  you  know — used 
to  be  political  resident  in  an  Indian  native  state. 
Mrs.  Heath  had  rather  a  good  stock  of  jewelry  of 
one  sort  and  another,  about  the  most  valuable  piece 
being  a  bracelet  set  with  a  particularly  fine  pearl — 
quite  an  exceptional  pearl,  in  fact — that  had  been 
one  of  a  heap  of  presents  from  the  maharajah  of 
his  state  when  Heath  left  India. 

"  It  was  a  very  noticeable  bracelet,  the  gold  set- 
ting being  a  mere  feather-weight  piece  of  native 
filigree  work — almost  too  fragile  to  trust  on  the  wrist 
— and  the  pearl  being,  as  I  have  said,  of  a  size  and 
quality  not  often  seen.  Well,  Heath  and  his  wife 
arrived  late  one  evening,  and  after  lunch  the  fol- 
lowing day,  most  of  the  men  being  off  by  themselves, 
— shooting,  I  think,— my  daughter,  my  sister  (who  is 
very  often  down  here),  and  Mrs.  Heath  took  it  into 
their  heads  to  go  walking — fern-hunting,  and  so  on. 
My  sister  was  rather  long  dressing,  and,  while  they 
waited,  my  daughter  went  into  Mrs.  Heath's  room, 
where  Mrs.  Heath  turned  over  all  her  treasures  to 
show  her,  as  women  do,  you  know.  When  my  sister 
was  at  last  ready,  they  came  straight  away,  leaving 
the  things  littering  about  the  room  rather  than  stay 
longer  to  pack  them  up.  The  bracelet,  with  other 
things,  was  on  the  dressing-table  then." 

"  One  moment.     As  to  the  door  ? " 

'  *  They  locked  it.  As  they  came  away  my  daugh- 
ter suggested  turning  the  key,  as  we  had  one  or  two 
new  servants  about." 

"  And  the  window  ? " 


8 

"  That  they  left  open,  as  I  was  going  to  tell  you. 
Well,  they  went  on  their  walk  and  came  back,  with 
Lloyd  (whom  they  had  met  somewhere)  carrying 
their  ferns  for  them.  It  was  dusk  and  almost 
dinner-time.  Mrs.  Heath  went  straight  to  her 
room,  and — the  bracelet  was  gone." 

"  Was  the  room  disturbed  ? " 

"  Not  a  bit.  Every  thing  was  precisely  where  it 
had  been  left,  except  the  bracelet.  The  door  hadn't 
been  tampered  with,  but  of  course  the  window  was 
open,  as  I  have  told  you." 

"  You  called  the  police,  of  course  % " 

"  Yes,  and  had  a  man  from  Scotland  Yard  down 
in  the  morning.  He  seemed  a  pretty  smart  fellow, 
and  the  first  thing  he  noticed  on  the  dressing-table, 
within  an  inch  or  two  of  where  the  bracelet  had 
been,  was  a  match,  which  had  been  lit  and  thrown 
down.  Now  nobody  about  the  house  had  had  oc- 
casion to  use  a  match  in  that  room  that  day,  and, 
if  they  had,  certainly  wouldn't  have  thrown  it  on 
the  cover  of  the  dressing-table.  So  that,  presuming 
the  thief  to  have  used  that  match,  the  robbery  must 
have  been  committed  when  the  room  was  getting 
dark — immediately  before  Mrs.  Heath  returned,  in 
fact.  The  thief  had  evidently  struck  the  match, 
passed  it  hurriedly  over  the  various  trinkets  lying 
about,  and  taken  the  most  valuable." 

"  Nothing  else  was  even  moved  % " 

"  Nothing  at  all.  Then  the  thief  must  have  es- 
caped by  the  window,  although  it  was  not  quite 
clear  how.  The  walking  party  approached  the 
house  with  a  full,  view  of  the  window,  but  saw 
nothing,  although   the    robbery  must    have    been 


THE  LENTON  CROFT  ROBBERIES  9 

actually  taking  place  a  moment  or  two  before  they 
turned  up. 

"There  was  no  water-pipe  within  any  practicable 
distance  of  the  window,  but  a  ladder  usually  kept 
in  the  stable-yard  was  found  lying  along  the  edge 
of  the  lawn.  The  gardener  explained ,  however,  that 
he  had  put  the  ladder  there  after  using  it  himself 
early  in  the  afternoon." 

11  Of  course  it  might  easily  have  been  used  again 
after  that  and  put  back." 

* '  Just  what  the  Scotland  Yard  man  said.  He  was 
pretty  sharp,  too,  on  the  gardener,  but  very  soon 
decided  that  he  knew  nothing  of  it.  No  stranger 
had  been  seen  in  the  neighborhood,  nor  had  passed 
the  lodge  gates.  Besides,  as  the  detective  said,  it 
scarcely  seemed  the  work  of  a  stranger.  A  stranger 
could  scarcely  have  known  enough  to  go  straight  to 
the  room  where  a  lady — only  arrived  the  day  before 
— had  left  a  valuable  jewel,  and  away  again  without 
being  seen.  So  all  the  people  about  the  house  were 
suspected  in  turn.  The  servants  offered,  in  a  body, 
to  have  their  boxes  searched,  and  this  was  done ; 
every  thing  was  turned  over,  from  the  butler's  to  the 
new  kitchen-maid's.  I  don't  know  that  I  should 
have  had  this  carried  quite  so  far  if  I  had  been  the 
loser  myself,  but  it  was  my  guest,  and  I  was  in  such 
a  horrible  position.  Well,  there's  little  more  to  be 
said  about  that,  unfortunately.  Nothing  came  of  it 
all,  and  the  thing's  as  great  a  mystery  now  as  ever. 
I  believe  the  Scotland  Yard  man  got  as  far  as  sus- 
pecting me  before  he  gave  it  up  altogether,  but  give 
it  up  he  did  in  the  end.  I  think  that's  all  I  know 
about  the  first  robbery.     Is  it  clear  ? " 


10  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

"Oh,  yes  ;  I  shall  probably  want  to  ask  a  few 
questions  when  I  have  seen  the  place,  but  they  can 
wait.     What  next?" 

"Well,"  Sir  James  pursued,  "the  next  was  a 
very  trumpery  affair,  that  I  should  have  forgotten 
all  about,  probably,  if  it  hadn't  been  for  one  cir- 
cumstance. Even  now  I  hardly  think  it  could 
have  been  the  work  of  the  same  hand.  Four 
months  or  thereabout  after  Mrs.  Heath's  disaster — 
in  February  of  this  year,  in  fact — Mrs.  Armitage,  a 
young  widow,  who  had  been  a  school-fellow  of  my 
daughter's,  stayed  with  us  for  a  week  or  so.  The 
girls  don't  trouble  about  the  London  season,  you 
know,  and  I  have  no  town  house,  so  they  were  glad 
to  have  their  old  friend  here  for  a  little  in  the  dull 
time.  Mrs.  Armitage  is  a  very  active  young  lady, 
and  was  scarcely  in  the  house  half-an-hour  before 
she  arranged  a  drive  in  a  pony-cart  with  Eva — my 
daughter — to  look  up  old  people  in  the  village  that 
she  used  to  know  before  she  was  married.  So  they 
set  off  in  the  afternoon,  and  made  such  a  round  of 
it  that  they  were  late  for  dinner.  Mrs.  Armitage 
had  a  small  plain  gold  brooch — not  at  all  valuable, 
you  know  ;  two  or  three  pounds,  I  suppose — which 
she  used  to  pin  up  a  cloak  or  any  thing  of  that  sort. 
Before  she  went  out  she  stuck  this  in  the  pin-cush- 
ion on  her  dressing-table,  and  left  a  ring — rather  a 
good  one,  I  believe — lying  close  by." 

"  This,"  asked  Hewitt,  "  was  not  in  the  room  that 
Mrs.  Heath  had  occupied,  I  take  it? " 

"No  ;  this  was  in  another  part  of  the  building. 
Well,  the  brooch  went — taken,  evidently,  by  some 
one  in  a  deuce  of  a  hurry,  for,  when  Mrs.  Armitage 


THE  LENTON  CROFT  ROBBERIES        11 

got  back  to  her  room,  there  was  the  pin-cushion 
with  a  little  tear  in  it,  where  the  brooch  had  been 
simply  snatched  off.  But  the  curious  thing  was 
that  the  ring — worth  a  dozen  of  the  brooch — was 
left  where  it  had  been  put.  Mrs.  Armitage  didn't 
remember  whether  or  not  she  had  locked  the  door 
herself,  although  she  found  it  locked  when  she 
returned  ;  but  my  niece,  who  was  indoors  all  the 
time,  went  and  tried  it  once — because  she  remem- 
bered that  a  gas-fitter  was  at  work  on  the  landing 
near  by — and  found  it  safely  locked.  The  gas-fit- 
ter, whom  we  didn't  know  at  the  time,  but  who 
since  seems  to  be  quite  an  honest  fellow,  was  ready 
to  swear  that  nobody  but  my  niece  had  been  to  the 
door  while  he  was  in  sight  of  it — which  was  almost 
all  the  time.  As  to  the  window,  the  sash -line  had 
broken  that  very  morning,  and  Mrs.  Armitage  had 
propped  open  the  bottom  half  about  eight  or  ten 
inches  with  a  brush  ;  and,  when  she  returned,  that 
brush,  sash,  and  all  were  exactly  as  she  had  left 
them.  Now  I  scarcely  need  tell  you  what  an 
awkward  job  it  must  have  been  for  any  body  to  get 
noiselessly  in  at  that  unsupported  window ;  and 
how  unlikely  he  would  have  been  to  replace  it, 
with  the  brush,  exactly  as  he  found  it." 

"  Just  so.  I  suppose  the  brooch  was  really  gone  ? 
I  mean,  there  was  no  chance  of  Mrs.  Armitage  hav- 
ing mislaid  it?" 

44 Oh,  none  at  all!  There  was  a  most  careful 
search." 

"Then,  as  to  getting  in  at  the  window,  would  it 
have  been  easy?" 

"  Well,  yes,"  Sir  James  replied;  "  yes,  perhaps 


12 

it  would.  It  is  a  first-floor  window,  and  it  looks 
over  the  roof  and  skylight  of  the  billiard-room.  I 
built  the  billiard-room  myself — built  it  out  from 
a  smoking-room  just  at  this  corner.  It  would  be 
easy  enough  to  get  at  the  window  from  the  billiard- 
room  roof .  But,  then,"  he  added,  "that  couldn't 
have  been  the  way.  Somebody  or  other  was  in  the 
billiard-room  the  whole  time,  and  nobody  could 
have  got  over  the  roof  (which  is  nearly  all  skylight) 
without  being  seen  and  heard.  I  was  there  myself 
for  an  hour  or  two,  taking  a  little  practice. " 

"  Well,  was  any  thing  done  I" 

"  Strict  enquiry  was  made  among  the  servants,  of 
course,  but  nothing  came  of  it.  It  was  such  a  small 
matter  that  Mrs.  Armitage  wouldn't  hear  of  my 
calling  in  the  police  or  any  thing  of  that  sort, 
although  I  felt  pretty  certain  that  there  must  be 
a  dishonest  servant  about  somewhere.  A  servant 
might  take  a  plain  brooch,  you  know,  who  would 
feel  afraid  of  a  valuable  ring,  the  loss  of  which 
would  be  made  a  greater  matter  of." 

"  Well,  yes,  perhaps  so,  in  the  case  of  an  inex- 
perienced thief,  who  also  would  be  likely  to  snatch 
up  whatever  she  took  in  a  hurry.  But  I'm  doubt- 
ful. What  made  you  connect  these  two  robberies 
together?" 

"Nothing  whatever — for  some  months.  They 
seemed  quite  of  a  different  sort.  But  scarcely  more 
than  a  month  ago  I  met  Mrs.  Armitage  at  Brighton, 
and  we  talked,  among  other  things,  of  the  previous 
robbery — that  of  Mrs.  Heath' s  bracelet.  I  described 
the  circumstances  pretty  minutely,  and,  when  I 
mentioned  the  match  found  on  the  table,  she  said  : 


THE  LENT0N  CROFT  ROBBERIES    ,    13 

'  How  strange  !  Why,  my  thief  left  a  match  on  the 
dressing-table  when  he  took  my  poor  little  brooch ! '  " 

Hewitt  nodded.  "Yes,"  he  said.  "A  spent 
match,  of  course?" 

"  Yes,  of  course,  a  spent  match.  She  noticed  it 
lying  close  by  the  pin-cushion,  but  threw  it  away 
without  mentioning  the  circumstance.  Still,  it 
seemed  rather  curious  to  me  that  a  match  should 
be  lit  and  dropped,  in  each  case,  on  the  dressing- 
cover  an  inch  from  where  the  article  was  taken. 
I  mentioned  it  to  Lloyd  when  I  got  back,  and  he 
agreed  that  it  seemed  significant." 

"Scarcely,"  said  Hewitt,  shaking  his  head. 
"  Scarcely,  so  far,  to  be  called  significant,  although 
worth  following  up.  Every-body  uses  matches  in 
the  dark,  you  know." 

"Well,  at  any  rate,  the  coincidence  appealed  to 
me  so  far  that  it  struck  me  it  might  be  worth  while 
to  describe  the  brooch  to  the  police  in  order  that 
they  could  trace  it  if  it  had  been  pawned.  They 
had  tried  that,  of  course,  over  the  bracelet  without 
any  result,  but  I  fancied  the  shot  might  be  worth 
making,  and  might  possibly  lead  us  on  the  track 
of  the  more  serious  robbery." 

"Quite  so.  It  was  the  right  thing  to  do. 
Well?" 

"Well,  they  found  it.  A  woman  had  pawned 
it  in  Loudon — at  a  shop  in  Chelsea.  But  that  was 
some  time  before,  and  the  pawnbroker  had  clean 
forgotten  all  about  the  woman's  appearance.  The 
name  and  address  she  gave  were  false.  So  that  was 
the  end  of  that  business." 

"  Had  any  of  your  servants  left  you  between  the 


14  MAETIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

time  the  brooch  was  lost  and  the  date  of  the 
pawn  ticket?" 

"JSTo." 

"  Were  all  your  servants  at  home  on  the  day  the 
brooch  was  pawned  %  " 

"  Oh,  yes !     I  made  that  enquiry  myself." 

1 '  Very  good !    What  next  \ ' ' 

"  Yesterday — and  this  is  what  made  me  send  for 
you.  My  late  wife's  sister  came  here  last  Tuesday, 
and  we  gave  her  the  room  from  which  Mrs.  Heath 
lost  her  bracelet.  She  had  with  her  a  very  old- 
fashioned  brooch,  containing  a  miniature  of  her 
father,  and  set  in  front  with  three  very  fine 
brilliants  and  a  few  smaller  stones.  Here  we  are, 
though,  at  the  Croft.  I'll  tell  you  the  rest 
indoors." 

Hewitt  laid  his  hand  on  the  baronet's  arm. 
" Don't  pull  up,  Sir  James,"  he  said.  "Drive  a 
little  further.  I  should  like  to  have  a  general  idea 
of  the  whole  case  before  we  go  in." 

"  Very  good!"  Sir  James  Norris  straightened 
the  horse's  head  again  and  went  on.  "Late  yes- 
terday afternoon,  as  my  sister-in-law  was  changing 
her  dress,  she  left  her  room  for  a  moment  to  speak 
to  my  daughter  in  her  room,  almost  adjoining. 
She  was  gone  no  more  than  three  minutes,  or  five  at 
most,  but  on  her  return  the  brooch,  which  had  been 
left  on  the  table,  had  gone.  Now  the  window  was 
shut  fast,  and  had  not  been  tampered  with.  Of 
course  the  door  was  open,  but  so  was  my  daughter's, 
and  any  body  walking  near  must  have  been  heard. 
But  the  strangest  circumstance,  and  one  that  almost 
makes  me  wonder  whether  I  have  been  awake  to- 


THE  LENTON  CROFT  ROBBERIES        15 

day  or  not,  was  that  there  lay  a  used  match  on  the 
very  spot,  as  nearly  as  possible,  where  the  brooch 
had  been — and  it  was  broad  daylight ! " 

Hewitt  rubbed  his  nose  and  looked  thoughtfully 
before  him.  "Um — curious,  certainly,' '  he  said. 
"  Any  thing  else?" 

"Nothing  more  than  you  shall  see  for  yourself. 
I  have  had  the  room  locked  and  watched  till  you 
could  examine  it.  My  sister-in-law  had  heard  of 
your  name,  and  suggested  that  you  should  be  called 
in;  so,  of  course,  I  did  exactly  as  she  wanted. 
That  she  should  have  lost  that  brooch,  of  all  things, 
in  my  house  is  most  unfortunate ;  you  see,  there 
was  some  small  difference  about  the  thing  between 
my  late  wife  and  her  sister  when  their  mother  died 
and  left  it.  It's  almost  worse  than  the  Heaths' 
bracelet  business,  and  altogether  I'm  not  pleased 
with  things,  I  can  assure  you.  See  what  a  position 
it  is  for  me  !  Here  are  three  ladies,  in  the  space  of 
one  year,  robbed  one  after  another  in  this  myste- 
rious fashion  in  my  house,  and  I  can't  find  the 
thief!  It's  horrible!  People  will  be  afraid  to 
come  near  the  place.     And  I  can  do  nothing !  " 

"Ah,  well,  we'll  see.  Perhaps  we  had  better 
turn  back  now.  By-the-bye,  were  you  thinking  of 
having  any  alterations  or  additions  made  to  your 
house  ?" 

"  No.    What  makes  you  ask  ? ' ' 

"I  think  you  might  at  least  consider  the  ques- 
tion of  painting  and  decorating,  Sir  James — or,  say, 
putting  up  another  coach-house,  or  something. 
Because  I  should  like  to  be  (to  the  servants)  the 
architect— or  the  builder,  if  you  please— come  to 


16 

look  round.  You  haven't  told  any  of  them  about 
this  business?" 

"  Not  a  word.  Nobody  knows  but  my  relatives 
and  Lloyd.  I  took  every  precaution  myself,  at 
once.  As  to  your  little  disguise,  be  the  architect 
by  all  means,  and  do  as  you  please.  If  you  can 
only  find  this  thief  and  put  an  end  to  this  horrible 
state  of  affairs,  you'll  do  me  the  greatest  service 
I've  ever  asked  for — and  as  to  your  fee,  I'll  gladly 
make  it  whatever  is  usual,  and  three  hundred  in 
addition." 

Martin  Hewitt  bowed.  "  You're  very  generous, 
Sir  James,  and  you  may  be  sure  I'll  do  what  I 
can.  As  a  professional  man,  of  course,  a  good  fee 
always  stimulates  my  interest,  although  this  case 
of  yours  certainly  seems  interesting  enough  by 
itself." 

"Most  extraordinary!  Don't  you  think  so? 
Here  are  three  persons,  all  ladies,  all  in  my  house, 
two  even  in  the  same  room,  each  successively  robbed 
of  a  piece  of  jewelry,  each  from  a  dressing-table, 
and  a  used  match  left  behind  in  every  case.  All  in 
the  most  difficult — one  would  say  impossible— cir- 
cumstances for  a  thief,  and  yet  there  is  no  clue  !  " 

"Well,  we  won't  say  that  just  yet,  Sir  James ; 
we  must  see.  And  we  must  guard  against  any 
undue  predisposition  to  consider  the  robberies  in  a 
lump.  Here  we  are  at  the  lodge  gate  again.  Is 
that  your  gardener — the  man  who  left  the  ladder 
by  the  lawn  on  the  first  occasion  you  spoke  of  ? " 
Mr.  Hewitt  nodded  in  the  direction  of  a  man  who 
was  clipping  a  box  border. 

"  Yes  ;  will  you  ask  Mm  any  thing  j " 


THE  LENTON  CROFT  BOBBERIES  17 

"  No,  no  ;  at  any  rate,  not  now.  Remember  the 
building  alterations.  I  think,  if  there  is  no  objec- 
tion, I  will  look  first  at  the  room  that  the  lady — 
Mrs. "     Hewitt  looked  up  enquiringly. 

"My  sister-in-law?  Mrs.  Cazenove.  Oh,  yes! 
you  shall  come  to  her  room  at  once." 

"Thank  you.  And  I  think  Mrs.  Cazenove  had 
better  be  there." 

They  alighted,  and  a  boy  from  the  lodge  led  the 
horse  and  dog-cart  away. 

Mrs.  Cazenove  was  a  thin  and  faded,  but  quick 
and  energetic,  lady  of  middle  age.  She  bent  her 
head  very  slightly  on  learning  Martin  Hewitt's 
name,  and  said :  "I  must  thank  you,  Mr.  Hewitt, 
for  your  very  prompt  attention.  I  need  scarcely 
say  that  any  help  you  can  afford  in  tracing  the 
thief  who  has  my  property — whoever  it  may  be — 
will  make  me  most  grateful.  My  room  is  quite 
ready  for  you  to  examine." 

The  room  was  on  the  second  floor — the  top  floor 
at  that  part  of  the  building.  Some  slight  con- 
fusion of  small  articles  of  dress  was  observable  in 
parts  of  the  room. 

"This,  I  take  it,"  enquired  Hewitt,  "is  exactly 
as  it  was  at  the  time  the  brooch  was  missed  ? " 

"  Precisely,"  Mrs.  Cazenove  answered.  "  I  have 
used  another  room,  and  put  myself  to  some  other 
inconveniences,  to  avoid  any  disturbance." 

Hewitt  stood  before  the  dressing-table.  "Then 
this  is  the  used  match,"  he  observed,  "exactly 
where  it  was  found  ?" 

"Yes." 

"  Where  was  the  brooch  ? " 


18  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

"I  should  say  almost  on  the  very  same  spot. 
Certainly  no  more  than  a  very  few  inches  away." 

Hewitt  examined  the  match  closely.  "  It  is 
burned  very  little,"  he  remarked.  "It  would  ap- 
pear to  have  gone  out  at  once.  Could  you  hear  it 
struck?" 

"I  heard  nothing  whatever;  absolutely  noth- 
ing." 

"  If  you  will  step  into  Miss  Norris's  room  now 
for  a  moment,"  Hewitt  suggested,  "we  will  try  an 
experiment.  Tell  me  if  you  hear  matches  struck, 
and  how  many.     Where  is  the  match -stand  I" 

The  match-stand  proved  to  be  empty,  but 
matches  were  found  in  Miss  Norris's  room,  and 
the  test  was  made.  Each  striking  could  be  heard 
distinctly,  even  with  one  of  the  doors  pushed  to. 

"Both  your  own  door  and  Miss  Norris's  were 
open,  I  understand  ;  the  window  shut  and  fastened 
inside  as  it  is  now,  and  nothing  but  the  brooch  was 
disturbed?" 

"Yes,  that  was  so." 

* '  Thank  you,  Mrs.  Cazenove.  I  don' t  think  I  need 
trouble  you  any  further  just  at  present.  I  think, 
Sir  James,"  Hewitt  added,  turning  to  the  baronet, 
who  was  standing  by  the  door — "I  think  we  will 
see  the  other  room  and  take  a  walk  outside  the 
house,  if  you  please.  I  suppose,  by-the-bye,  that 
there  is  no  getting  at  the  matches  left  behind  on 
the  first  and  second  occasions  I " 

"No,"  Sir  James  answered.  "Certainly  not 
here.  The  Scotland  Yard  man  may  have  kept 
his." 

The  room  that  Mrs.  Arnijtage  }iad  occupied  pre- 


THE  LENTON   CEOFT  BOBBERIES  19 

sented  no  peculiar  feature.  A  few  feet  below  the 
window  the  roof  of  the  billiard-room  was  visible, 
consisting  largely  of  skylight.  Hewitt  glanced 
casually  about  the  walls,  ascertained  that  the  fur- 
niture and  hangings  had  not  been  materially 
changed  since  the  second  robbery,  and  expressed 
his  desire  to  see  the  windows  from  the  outside. 
Before  leaving  the  room,  however,  he  wished  to 
know  the  names  of  any  persons  who  were  known  to 
have  been  about  the  house  on  the  occasions  of  all 
three  robberies. 

"  Just  carry  your  mind  back,  Sir  James,"  he 
said.  "  Begin  with  yourself,  for  instance.  Where 
were  you  at  these  times?" 

"When  Mrs.  Heath  lost  her  bracelet,  I  was  in 
Tagley  Wood  all  the  afternoon.  When  Mrs.  Ar- 
mitage  was  robbed,  I  believe  I  was  somewhere 
about  the  place  most  of  the  time  she  was  out.  Yes- 
terday I  was  down  at  the  farm."  Sir  James's  face 
broadened.  "  I  don't  know  whether  you  call  those 
suspicious  movements,"  he  added,  and  laughed. 

"Not  at  all ;  I  only  asked  you  so  that,  remem- 
bering your  own  movements,  you  might  the  better 
recall  those  of  the  rest  of  the  household.  Was 
any  body,  to  your  knowledge — any  body,  mind — 
in  the  house  on  all  three  occasions ! " 

"  Well,  you  know,  it's  quite  impossible  to 
answer  for  all  the  servants.  You'll  only  get  that 
by  direct  questioning — I  can't  possibly  remember 
things  of  that  sort.  As  to  the  family  and  visitors — 
why,  you  don't  suspect  any  of  them,  do  you  ?" 

"I  don't  suspect  a  soul,  Sir  James,"  Hewitt 
answered,  beaming  genially,  "not  a   soul,    You 


20  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

see,  I  cartt  suspect  people  till  I  know  something 
about  where  they  were.  It's  quite  possible  there 
will  be  independent  evidence  enough  as  it  is,  but 
you  must  help  me  if  you  can.  The  visitors,  now. 
Was  there  any  visitor  here  each  time — or  even  on 
the  first  and  last  occasions  only  ? " 

"  No,  not  one.  And  my  own  sister,  perhaps  you 
will  be  pleased  to  know,  was  only  there  at  the  time 
of  the  first  robbery.' ' 

"  Just  so  !  And  your  daughter,  as  I  have  gath- 
ered, was  clearly  absent  from  the  spot  each  time — 
indeed,  was  in  company  with  the  party  robbed. 
Your  niece,  now  ? " 

"  Why,  hang  it  all,  Mr.  Hewitt,  I  can't  talk  of 
my  niece  as  a  suspected  criminal !  The  poor  girl's 
under  my  protection,  and  I  really  can't  allow " 

Hewitt  raised  his  hand  and  shook  his  head  dep- 
recatingly. 

"My  dear  sir,  haven't  I  said  that  I  don't  suspect 
a  soul  ?  Do  let  me  know  how  the  people  were  dis- 
tributed, as  nearly  as  possible.  Let  me  see.  It  was 
your  niece,  I  think,  who  found  that  Mrs.  Armitage's 
door  was  locked — this  door,  in  fact — on  the  day  she 
lost  her  brooch  f" 

"  Yes,  it  was." 

"  Just  so — at  the  time  when  Mrs.  Armitage  her- 
self had  forgotten  whether  she  locked  it  or  not. 
And  yesterday — was  she  out  then  ? " 

"No,  I  think  not.  Indeed,  she  goes  out  very 
little — her  health  is  usually  bad.  She  was  indoors, 
too,  at  the  time  of  the  Heath  robbery,  since  you 
ask.  But  come,  now,  I  don't  like  this.  It's  ridic- 
ulous to  suppose  that  she  knows  any  thing  of  it," 


THE  LENTON   CROFT  ROBBERIES  21 

"  I  don't  suppose  it,  as  I  have  said.  I  am  only- 
asking  for  information.  That  is  all  your  resident 
family,  I  take  it,  and  you  know  nothing  of  any 
body  else's  movements  —  except,  perhaps,  Mr. 
Lloyd's?" 

"  Lloyd?  Well,  you  know  yourself  that  he  was 
out  with  the  ladies  when  the  first  robbery  took 
place.  As  to  the  others,  I  don' t  remember.  Yes- 
terday he  was  probably  in  his  room,  writing.  I 
think  that  acquits  him,  eh?"  Sir  James  looked 
quizzically  into  the  broad  face  of  the  affable  de- 
tective, who  smiled  and  replied  : 

"  Oh,  of  course  nobody  can  be  in  two  places  at 
once,  else  what  would  become  of  the  alibi  as  an 
institution  ?  But,  as  I  have  said,  I  am  only  setting 
my  facts  in  order.  Now,  you  see,  we  get  down  to 
the  servants — unless  some  stranger  is  the  party 
wanted.     Shall  we  go  outside  now  ? " 

Lenton  Croft  was  a  large,  desultory  sort  of  house, 
nowhere  more  than  three  floors  high,  and  mostly 
only  two.  It  had  been  added  to  bit  by  bit,  till  it 
zig-zagged  about  its  site,  as  Sir  James  Norris 
expressed  it,  u  like  a  game  of  dominoes."  Hewitt 
scrutinized  its  external  features  carefully  as  they 
strolled  round,  and  stopped  some  little  while  before 
the  windows  of  the  two  bedrooms  he  had  just  seen 
from  the  inside.  Presently  they  approached  the 
stables  and  coach-house,  where  a  groom  was  washing 
the  wheels  of  the  dog-cart. 

"  Do  you  mind  my  smoking  ?  "  Hewitt  asked  Sir 
James.  "  Perhaps  you  will  take  a  cigar  yourself — 
they  are  not  so  bad,  I  think.  I  will  ask  your  man 
for  a  light." 


22  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

Sir  James  felt  for  his  own  match-box,  but  Hewitt 
had  gone,  and  was  lighting  his  cigar  with  a  match 
from  a  box  handed  him  by  the  groom.  A  smart 
little  terrier  was  trotting  about  by  the  coach-house, 
and  Hewitt  stooped  to  rub  its  head.  Then  he  made 
some  observation  about  the  dog  which  enlisted 
the  groom's  interest,  and  was  soon  absorbed  in  a 
chat  with  the  man.  Sir  James,  waiting  a  little 
way  off,  tapped  the  stones  rather  impatiently  with 
his  foot,  and  presently  moved  away. 

For  full  a  quarter  of  an  hour  Hewitt  chatted  with 
the  groom,  and,  when  at  last  he  came  away  and 
overtook  Sir  James,  that  gentleman  was  about  re- 
entering the  house. 

"I  beg  your  pardon,  Sir  James,'5  Hewitt  said, 
ufor  leaving  you  in  that  unceremonious  fashion  to 
talk  to  your  groom,  but  a  dog,  Sir  James, — a  good 
dog, — will  draw  me  anywhere." 

"Oh !"  replied  Sir  James  shortly. 

"  There  is  one  other  thing,"  Hewitt  went  on,  dis- 
regarding the  other's  curtness,  "that  I  should  like 
to  know:  There  are  two  windows  directly  below  that 
of  the  room  occupied  yesterday  by  Mrs.  Cazenove — 
one  on  each  floor.     What  rooms  do  they  light  ? " 

"That  on  the  ground  floor  is  the  morning-room  ; 
the  other  is  Mr.  Lloyd's — my  secretary.  A  sort  of 
study  or  sitting-room." 

"Now  you  will  see  at  once,  Sir  James,"  Hewitt 
pursued,  with  an  affable  determination  to  win  the 
baronet  back  to  good-humor — "  you  will  see  at  once 
that,  if  a  ladder  had  been  used  in  Mrs.  Heath's  case, 
any  body  looking  from  either  of  these  rooms  would 
have  seen  it." 


THE  LEtfTON  C&OFT  JOBBERIES  23 

11  Of  course !  The  Scotland  Yard  man  questioned 
e  very-body  as  to  that,  but  nobody  seemed  to  have 
been  in  either  of  the  rooms  when  the  thing  oc- 
curred ;  at  any  rate,  nobody  saw  any  thing." 

"Still,  I  think  I  should  like  to  look  out  of  those 
windows  myself ;  it  will,  at  least,  give  me  an  idea 
of  what  was  in  view  and  what  was  not,  if  any  body 
had  been  there." 

Sir  James  Norris  led  the  way  to  the  morning- 
room.  As  they  reached  the  door  a  young  lady, 
carrying  a  book  and  walking  very  languidly,  came 
out.  Hewitt  stepped  aside  to  let  her  pass,  and  af- 
terward said  interrogatively:  "Miss  Norris,  your 
daughter,  Sir  John  ? " 

"No,  my  niece.  Do  you  want  to  ask  her  any 
thing?  Dora,  my  dear,"  Sir  James  added,  follow- 
ing her  in  the  corridor,  "  this  is  Mr.  Hewitt,  who  is 
investigating  these  wretched  robberies  for  me.  I 
think  he  would  like  to  hear  if  you  remember  any 
thing  happening  at  any  of  the  three  times." 

The  lady  bowed  slightly,  and  said  in  a  plaintive 
drawl:  "I,  uncle?  Really,  I  don't  remember  any 
thing  ;  nothing  at  all." 

"  You  found  Mrs.  Armitage's  door  locked,  I  be- 
lieve," asked  Hewitt,  "when  you  tried  it,  on  the 
afternoon  when  she  lost  her  brooch  I  " 

M  Oh,  yes  ;  I  believe  it  was  locked.     Yes,  it  was." 

"  Had  the  key  been  left  in  ? " 

"  The  key  ?    Oh,  no  !    I  think  not ;  no." 

"  Do  you  remember  anything  out  of  the  common 
happening — any  thing  whatever,  no  matter  how  triv- 
ial— on  the  day  Mrs.  Heath  lost  her  bracelet  1 " 

"  No,  really,  I  don't.     I  can't  remember  at  all." 


24  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

"Nor  yesterday?" 

"No,  nothing.    I  don't  remember  any  thing.9' 

"Thank  you,"  said  Hewitt  hastily;  "thank 
you.     Now  the  morning-room,  Sir  James." 

In  the  morning-room  Hewitt  stayed  but  a  few 
seconds,  doing  little  more  than  casually  glance  out 
of  the  windows.  In  the  room  above  he  took  a  little 
longer  time.  It  was  a  comfortable  room,  but  with 
rather  effeminate  indications  about  its  contents. 
Little  pieces  of  draped  silk- work  hung'  about  the 
furniture,  and  Japanese  silk  fans  decorated  the 
mantel-piece.  Near  the  window  was  a  cage  con- 
taining a  gray  parrot,  and  the  writing-table  was 
decorated  with  two  vases  of  flowers. 

"Lloyd  makes  himself  pretty  comfortable,  eh  ! " 
Sir  James  observed.  ' '  But  it  isn'  t  likely  any  body 
would  be  here  while  he  was  out,  at  the  time  that 
bracelet  went." 

"No,"  replied  Hewitt  meditatively.  "No,  I 
suppose  not." 

He  stared  thoughtfully  out  of  the  window,  and 
then,  still  deep  in  thought,  rattled  at  the  wires  of 
the  cage  with  a  quill  tooth-pick  and  played  a  mo- 
ment with  the  parrot.  Then,  looking  up  at  the 
window  again,  he  said  :  "That  is  Mr.  Lloyd,  isn't 
it,  coming  back  in  a  fly ! " 

"Yes,  I  think  so.  Is  there  any  thing  else  you 
would  care  to  see  here  ? " 

"No,  thank  you,"  Hewitt  replied;  "I  don't 
think  there  is." 

They  went  down  to  the  smoking-room,  and  Sir 
James  went  away  to  speak  to  his  secretary.  When 
he  returned,  Hewitt  said  quietly:    "I  think,  Sir 


THE  LENTON   CROFT   ROBBERIES  25 

James — I  tMnJc  that  I  shall  be  able  to  give  you 
your  thief  presently," 

1 '  What !  Have  you  a  clue  ?  Who  do  you  think  ? 
I  began  to  believe  you  were  hopelessly  stumped. " 

"  Well,  yes.  I  have  rather  a  good  clue,  although 
I  can't  tell  you  much  about  it  just  yet.  But  it  is  so 
good  a  clue  that  I  should  like  to  know  now  whether 
you  are  determined  to  prosecute  when  you  have 
the  criminal V 

"Why,  bless  me,  of  course,"  Sir  James  replied 
with  surprise.  "  It  doesn't  rest  with  me,  you  know 
— the  property  belongs  to  my  friends.  And  even 
if  they  were  disposed  to  let  the  thing  slide,  I 
shouldn't  allow  it — I  couldn't,  after  they  had  been 
robbed  in  my  house." 

"  Of  course,  of  course !  Then,  if  I  can,  I  should 
like  to  send  a  message  to  Twyford  by  somebody 
perfectly  trustworthy — not  a  servant.  Could  any 
body  go?" 

"Well,  there's  Lloyd,  although  he's  only  just 
back  from  his  journey.  But,  if  it's  important, 
he'll  go." 

"It  is  important.  The  fact  is  we  must  have  a 
policeman  or  two  here  this  evening,  and  I'd  like 
Mr.  Lloyd  to  fetch  them  without  telling  any  body 
else." 

Sir  James  rang,  and,  in  response  to  his  message, 
Mr.  Lloyd  appeared.  While  Sir  James  gave  his 
secretary  his  instructions,  Hewitt  strolled  to  the 
door  of  the  smoking-room,  and  intercepted  the 
latter  as  he  came  out. 

"I'm  sorry  to  give  you  this  trouble,  Mr.  Lloyd," 
he  said,  "but  I  must  stay  here  myself  for  a  little, 


26  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

and  somebody  who  can  be  trusted  must  go.  Will 
you  just  bring  back  a  police- constable  with,  you  f 
or  rather  two — two  would  be  better,,  That  is  all 
that  is  wanted.  You  won't  let  the  servants  know, 
will  you  ?  Of  course  there  will  be  a  female  searcher 
at  the  Twyford  police-station?  Ah — of  course. 
Well,  you  needn't  bring  her,  you  know.  That  sort 
of  thing  is  done  at  the  station."  And,  chatting 
thus  confidentially,  Martin  Hewitt  saw  him  off. 

When  Hewitt  returned  to  the  smoking-room,  Sir 
James  said  suddenly:  "Why,  bless  my  soul,  Mr. 
Hewitt,  we  haven't  fed  you!  I'm  awfully  sorry. 
We  came  in  rather  late  for  lunch,  you  know,  and 
this  business  has  bothered  me  so  I  clean  forgot 
every  thing  else.  There's  no  dinner  till  seven,  so 
you'd  better  let  me  give  you  something  now.  I'm 
really  sorry.     Come  along." 

" Thank  you,  Sir  James,"  Hewitt  replied;  "I 
won't  take  much.  A  few  biscuits,  perhaps,  or  some- 
thing of  that  sort.  And,  by- the- bye,  if  you  don't 
mind,  I  rather  think  I  should  like  to  take  it 
alone.  The  fact  is  I  want  to  go  over  this  case 
thoroughly  by  myself.  Can  you  put  me  in  a 
room?" 

"Any  room  you  like.  Where  will  you  go  ?  The 
dining-room' s  rather  large,  but  there's  my  study, 
that's  pretty  snug,  or " 

"Perhaps  I  can  go  into  Mr.  Lloyd's  room  for 
half-an-hour  or  so  ;  I  don't  think  he'll  mind,  and 
it's  pretty  comfortable." 

"Certainly,  if  you'd  like.  I'll  tell  them  to  send 
you  whatever  they've  got." 

"  Thank  you  very  much.     Perhaps  they'll  also 


THE  LENTON  CROFT  BOBBERIES  27 

send  me  a  lump  of  sugar  and  a  walnut;  it's — it's 
just  a  little  fad  of  mine." 

"  A— what  ?  A  lump  of  sugar  and  a  walnut  ? " 
Sir  James  stopped  for  a  moment,  with  his  hand  on 
the  bell-rope.  "Oh,  certainly,  if  you'd  like  it; 
certainly,"  he  added,  and  stared  after  this  detec- 
tive of  curious  tastes  as  he  left  the  room. 

When  the  vehicle  bringing  back  the  secretary 
and  the  policemen  drew  up  on  the  drive,  Martin 
Hewitt  left  the  room  on  the  first  floor  and  proceeded 
down  stairs.  On  the  landing  he  met  Sir  James 
Norris  and  Mrs.  Cazenove,  who  stared  with  aston- 
ishment on  perceiving  that  the  detective  carried  in 
his  hand  the  parrot-cage. 

"  I  think  our  business  is  about  brought  to  a  head 
now,"  Hewitt  remarked  on  the  stairs.  "  Here  are 
the  police-officers  from  Twyford."  The  men  were 
standing  in  the  hall  with  Mr.  Lloyd,  who,  on  catch- 
ing sight  of  the  cage  in  Hewitt's  hand,  paled  sud- 
denly. 

11  This  is  the  person  who  will  be  charged,  I  think," 
Hewitt  pursued,  addressing  the  officers,  and  indi- 
cating Lloyd  with  his  finger. 

"What,  Lloyd?"  gasped  Sir  James,  aghast. 
11  No — not  Lloyd — nonsense !  " 

"He  doesn't  seem  to  think  it  nonsense  himself, 
does  he? "Hewitt  placidly  observed.  Lloyd  had 
sunk  on  a  chair,  and,  gray  of  face,  was  staring 
blindly  at  the  man  he  had  run  against  at  the  office 
door  that  morning.  His  lips  moved  in  spasms,  but 
there  was  no  sound.  The  wilted  flower  fell  from 
Jlis  button-hole  to  the  floor,  but  he  did  not  move. 

M  This  is  his  accomplice,"  Hewitt  went  on,  placing 


28  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

the  parrot  and  cage  on  the  hall  table,  "  though  I 
doubt  whether  there  will  be  any  use  in  charging 
Mm.    Eh,  Polly?" 

The  parrot  put  his  head  aside  and  chuckled. 
" Hullo,  Polly!"  it  quietly  gurgled.  "Come 
along ! " 

Sir  James  Norris  was  hopelessly  bewildered. 
"  Lloyd  —  Lloyd,"  he  said,  under  his  breath, 
"  Lloyd— and  that!" 

"  This  was  his  little  messenger,  his  useful  Mer- 
cury," Hewitt  explained,  tapping  the  cage  com- 
placently; "in  fact,  the  actual  lifter.  Hold 
him  up  ! " 

The  last  remark  referred  to  the  wretched  Lloyd, 
who  had  fallen  forward  with  something  between  a 
sob  and  a  loud  sigh.  The  policemen  took  him  by 
the  arms  and  propped  him  in  his  chair. 

"System?"  said  Hewitt,  with  a  shrug  of  the 
shoulders,  an  hour  or  two  after  in  Sir  James's 
study.  "I  can't  say  I  have  a  system.  I  call  it 
nothing  but  common-sense  and  a  sharp  pair  of 
eyes.  Nobody  using  these  could  help  taking  the 
right  road  in  this  case.  I  began  at  the  match,  just 
as  the  Scotland  Yard  man  did,  but  I  had  the 
advantage  of  taking  a  line  through  three  cases. 
To  begin  with,  it  was  plain  that  that  match,  being 
left  there  in  daylight,  in  Mrs.  Cazenove's  room, 
could  not  have  been  used  to  light  the  table-top,  in 
the  full  glare  of  the  window ;  therefore  it  had  been 
used  for  some  other  purpose — what  purpose  I 
could  not,  at  the  moment,  guess.  Habitual  thieves, 
you  know,  often  have  curious  superstitions,  and 


THE  LENTON  CROFT  ROBBERIES        29 

some  will  never  take  any  thing  without  leaving 
something  behind — a  pebble  or  a  piece  of  coal,  or 
something  like  that — in  the  premises  they  have 
been  robbing.  It  seemed  at  first  extremely  likely 
that  this  was  a  case  of  that  kind.  The  match  had 
clearly  been  brought  in — because,  when  I  asked  for 
matches,  there  were  none  in  the  stand,  not  even  an 
empty  box,  and  the  room  had  not  been  disturbed. 
Also  the  match  probably  had  not  been  struck 
there,  nothing  having  been  heard,  although,  of 
course,  a  mistake  in  this  matter  was  just  possible. 
This  match,  then,  it  was  fair  to  assume,  had  been 
lit  somewhere  else  and  blown  out  immediately — I 
remarked  at  the  time  that  it  was  very  little  burned. 
Plainly  it  could  not  have  been  treated  thus  for 
nothing,  and  the  only  possible  object  would  have 
been  to  prevent  it  igniting  accidentally.  Following 
on  this,  it  became  obvious  that  the  match  was  used, 
for  whatever  purpose,  not  as  a  match,  but  merely 
as  a  convenient  splinter  of  wood. 

"  So  far  so  good.  But  on  examining  the  match 
very  closely  I  observed,  as  you  can  see  for  your- 
self, certain  rather  sharp  indentations  in  the  wood. 
They  are  very  small,  you  see,  and  scarcely  visible, 
except  upon  narrow  inspection;  but  there  they  are, 
and  their  positions  are  regular.  See — there  are  two 
on  each  side,  each  opposite  the  corresponding  mark 
of  the  other  pair.  The  match,  in  fact,  would  seem 
to  have  been  gripped  in  some  fairly  sharp  instru- 
ment, holding  it  at  two  points  above  and  two  below 
— an  instrument,  as  it  may  at  once  strike  you,  not 
unlike  the  beak  of  a  bird. 

"Now  here  was  an  idea.     What  living  creature 


30  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

but  a  bird  could  possibly  have  entered  Mrs.  Heath's 
window  without  a  ladder — supposing  no  ladder  to 
have  been  used — or  could  have  got  into  Mrs. 
Armitage's  window  without  lifting  the  sash  higher 
than  the  eight  or  ten  inches  it  was  already  open  ? 
Plainly,  nothing.  Further,  it  is  significant  that 
only  one  article  was  stolen  at  a  time,  although 
others  were  about.  A  human  being  could  have 
carried  any  reasonable  number,  but  a  bird  could 
only  take  one  at  a  time.  But  why  should  a  bird 
carry  a  match  in  its  beak  I  Certainly  it  must  have 
been  trained  to  do  that  for  a  purpose,  and  a  little 
consideration  made  that  purpose  pretty  clear.  A 
noisy,  chattering  bird  would  probably  betray  itself 
at  once.  Therefore  it  must  be  trained  to  keep  quiet 
both  while  going  for  and  coming  away  with  its 
plunder.  What  readier  or  more  probably  effectual 
way  than,  while  teaching  it  to  carry  without  drop- 
ping, to  teach  it  also  to  keep  quiet  while  carrying  I 
The  one  thing  would  practically  cover  the  other. 

"  I  thought  at  once,  of  course,  of  a  jackdaw  or 
a  magpie — these  birds'  thievish  reputations  made 
the  guess  natural.  But  the  marks  on  the  match 
were  much  too  wide  apart  to  have  been  made  by 
the  beak  of  either.  I  conjectured,  therefore,  that 
it  must  be  a  raven.  So  that,  when  we  arrived  near 
the  coach-house,  I  seized  the  opportunity  of  a  little 
chat  with  your  groom  on  the  subject  of  dogs  and 
pets  in  general,  and  ascertained  that  there  was  no 
tame  raven  in  the  place.  I  also,  incidentally,  by 
getting  a  light  from  the  coach-house  box  of 
matches,  ascertained  that  the  match  found  was  of 
the  sort  generally  used  about  the  establishment — 


THE  LENTON   CROFT  ROBBERIES  31 

the  large,  thick,  red-topped  English  match.  But 
I  further  found  that  Mr.  Lloyd  had  a  parrot  which 
was  a  most  intelligent  pet,  and  had  been  trained 
into  comparative  quietness — for  a  parrot.  Also, 
I  learned  that  more  than  once  the  groom  had  met 
Mr.  Lloyd  carrying  his  parrot  under  his  coat,  it 
having,  as  its  owner  explained,  learned  the  trick 
of  opening  its  cage-door  and  escaping. 

"  I  said  nothing,  of  course,  to  you  of  all  this, 
because  I  had  as  yet  nothing  but  a  train  of  argu- 
ment and  no  results.  I  got  to  Lloyd's  room  as 
soon  as  possible.  My  chief  object  in  going  there 
was  achieved  when  I  played  with  the  parrot,  and 
induced  it  to  bite  a  quill  tooth-pick. 

"  When  you  left  me  in  the  smoking-room,  I  com- 
pared the  quill  and  the  match  very  carefully,  and 
found  that  the  marks  corresponded  exactly.  After 
this  I  felt  very  little  doubt  indeed.  The  fact  of 
Lloyd  having  met  the  ladies  walking  before  dark 
on  the  day  of  the  first;  robbery  proved  nothing, 
because,  since  it  was  clear  that  the  match  had  not 
been  used  to  procure  a  light,  the  robbery  might  as 
easily  have  taken  place  in  daylight  as  not — must 
have  so  taken  place,  in  fact,  if  my  conjectures  were 
right.  That  they  were  right  I  felt  no  doubt. 
There  could  be  no  other  explanation. 

"When  Mrs.  Heath  left  her  window  open  and 
her  door  shut,  any  body  climbing  upon  the  open 
sash  of  Lloyd's  high  window  could  have  put  the 
bird  upon  the  sill  above.  The  match  placed  in  the 
bird's  beak  for  the  purpose  I  have  indicated,  and 
struck  first,  in  case  by  accident  it  should  ignite  by 
rubbing  against  something  and  startle  the  bird— 


32  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

this  match  would,  of  course,  be  dropped  just  where 
the  object  to  be  removed  was  taken  up ;  as  you 
know,  in  every  case  the  match  was  found  almost 
upon  the  spot  where  the  missing  article  had  been 
left — scarcely  a  likely  triple  coincidence  had  the 
match  been  used  by  a  human  thief.  This  would 
have  been  done  as  soon  after  the  ladies  had  left  as 
possible,  and  there  would  then  have  been  plenty  of 
time  for  Lloyd  to  hurry  out  and  meet  them  before 
dark — especially  plenty  of  time  to  meet  them  com- 
ing back,  as  they  must  have  been,  since  they  were 
carrying  their  ferns.  The  match  was  an  article 
well  chosen  for  its  purpose,  as  being  a  not  alto- 
gether unlikely  thing  to  find  on  a  dressing-table, 
and,  if  noticed,  likely  to  lead  to  the  wrong  con- 
clusions adopted  by  the  official  detective. 

"  In  Mrs.  Armitage's  case  the  taking  of  an  infe- 
rior brooch  and  the  leaving  of  a  more  valuable  ring 
pointed  clearly  either  to  the  operator  being  a  fool 
or  unable  to  distinguish  values,  and  certainly, 
from  other  indications,  the  thief  seemed  no  fool. 
The  door  was  locked,  and  the  gas-fitter,  so  to 
speak,  on  guard,  and  the  window  was  only  eight  or 
ten  inches  open  and  propped  with  a  brush.  A 
human  thief  entering  the  window  would  have  dis- 
turbed this  arrangement,  and  would  scarcely  risk 
discovery  by  attempting  to  replace  it,  especially  a 
thief  in  so  great  a  hurry  as  to  snatch  the  brooch  up 
without  unfastening  the  pin.  The  bird  could  pass 
through  the  opening  as  it  was,  and  would  have  to 
tear  the  pin-cushion  to  pull  the  brooch  off,  probably 
holding  the  cushion  down  with  its  claw  the  while. 

"  Now  in  yesterday's  case  we  had  an  alteration 


THE  LENTON   CKOFT  ROBBERIES  33 

of  conditions.  The  window  was  shut  and  fast- 
ened, but  the  door  was  open — but  only  left  for  a 
few  minutes,  during  which  time  no  sound  was 
heard  either  of  coming  or  going.  Was  it  not  possi- 
ble, then,  that  the  thief  was  already  in  the  room, 
in  hiding,  while  Mrs.  Cazenove  was  there,  and 
seized  its  first  opportunity  on  her  temporary  ab- 
sence? The  room  is  full  of  draperies,  hangings, 
and  what-not,  allowing  of  plenty  of  concealment 
for  a  bird,  and  a  bird  could  leave  the  place  noise- 
lessly and  quickly.  That  the  whole  scheme  was 
strange  mattered  not  at  all.  Robberies  present- 
ing such  unaccountable  features  must  have  been 
effected  by  strange  means  of  one  sort  or  another. 
There  was  no  imiDrobability — consider  how  many 
hundreds  of  examples  of  infinitely  higher  degrees 
of  bird-training  are  exhibited  in  the  London  streets 
every  week  for  coppers. 

"  So  that,  on  the  whole,  I  felt  pretty  sure  of  my 
ground.  But  before  taking  any  definite  steps  I 
resolved  to  see  if  Polly  could  not  be  persuaded  to 
exhibit  his  accomplishments  to  an  indulgent  stran- 
ger. For  that  purpose  I  contrived  to  send  Lloyd 
away  again  and  have  a  quiet  hour  alone  with  his 
bird.  A  piece  of  sugar,  as  every-body  knows,  is  a 
good  parrot  bribe  ;  but  a  walnut,  split  in  half,  is  a 
better — especially  if  the  bird  be  used  to  it ;  so  I  got 
you  to  furnish  me  with  both.  Polly  was  shy  at 
first,  but  I  generally  get  along  very  well  with  pets, 
and  a  little  perseverance  soon  led  to  a  complete 
private  performance  for  my  benefit.  Polly  would 
take  the  match,  mute  as  wax,  jump  on  the  table, 
pick  up  the  brightest  thing  he  could  see,  in  a  great 


34 

hurry,  leave  the  match  behind,  and  scuttle  away 
round  the  room  ;  but  at  first  wouldn't  give  up  the 
plunder  to  me.  It  was  enough.  I  also  took  the 
liberty,  as  you  know,  of  a  general  look  round,  and 
discovered  that  little  collection  of  Brummagem  rings 
and  trinkets  that  you  have  just  seen — used  in  Polly's 
education,  no  doubt.  When  we  sent  Lloyd  away,  it 
struck  me  that  he  might  as  well  be  usefully  em- 
ployed as  not,  so  I  got  him  to  fetch  the  police,  de- 
luding him  a  little,  I  fear,  by  talking'  about  the 
servants  and  a  female  searcher.*  There  will  be  no 
trouble  about  evidence;  he'll  confess  :  of  that  I'm 
sure.  I  know  the  sort  of  man.  But  I  doubt  if 
you'll  get  Mrs.  Cazenove's  brooch  back.  You  see, 
he  has  been  to  London  to-day,  and  by  this  the  swag 
is  probably  broken  up." 

Sir  James  listened  to  Hewitt's  explanation  with 
many  expressions  of  assent  and  some  of  surprise. 
When  it  was  over,  he  smoked  a  few  whiffs  and  then 
said:  "But  Mrs.  Armitage's  brooch  was  pawned, 
and  by  a  woman." 

"  Exactly.  I  expect  our  friend  Lloyd  was  rather 
disgusted  at  his  small  luck — probably  gave  the 
brooch  to  some  female  cdnnection  in  London,  and 
she  realized  on  it.  Such  persons  don't  always 
trouble  to  give  a  correct  address." 

The  two  smoked  in  silence  for  a  few  minutes,  and 
then  Hewitt  continued:  "I  don't  expect  our 
friend  has  had  an  easy  job  altogether  with  that 
bird.  His  successes  at  most  have  only  been  three, 
and  I  suspect  he  had  many  failures  and  not  a  few 
anxious  moments  that  we  know  nothing  of.  I 
should  judge  as  much  merely  from  what  the  groom 


THE  LENTON  CROFT  BOBBERIES  35 

told  me  of  frequently  meeting  Lloyd  with  his 
parrot.  But  the  plan  was  not  a  bad  one — not  at 
all.  Even  if  the  bird  had  been  caught  in  the  act, 
it  would  only  have  been  *  That  mischievous  parrot !  * 
you  see.  And  his  master  would  only  have  been 
looking  for  him." 


II.  THE  LOSS  OF  SAMMY  CROCKETT. 

It  was,  of  course,  always  a  part  of  Martin  Hew- 
itt's business  to  be  thoroughly  at  home  among  any 
and  every  class  of  people,  and  to  be  able  to  in- 
terest himself  intelligently,  or  to  appear  to  do  so, 
in  their  various  pursuits.  In  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant cases  ever  placed  in  his  hands  he  could 
have  gone  but  a  short  way  toward  success  had  he 
not  displayed  some  knowledge  of  the  more  sordid 
aspects  of  professional  sport,  and  a  great  interest 
in  the  undertakings  of  a  certain  dealer  therein. 

The  great  case  itself  had  nothing  to  do  with 
sport,  and,  indeed,  from  a  narrative  point  of  view, 
was  somewhat  uninteresting,  but  the  man  who 
alone  held  the  one  piece  of  information  wanted 
was  a  keeper,  backer,  or  " gaffer"  of  professional 
pedestrians,  and  it  was  through  the  medium  of  his 
pecuniary  interest  in  such  matters  that  Hewitt  was 
enabled  to  strike  a  bargain  with  him. 

The  man  was  a  publican  on  the  outskirts  of  Pad- 
field,  a  northern  town  pretty  famous  for  its  sport- 
ing tastes,  and  to  Padfield,  therefore,  Hewitt  be- 
took himself,  and,  arrayed  in  a  way  to  indicate 
some  inclination  of  his  own  toward  sport,  he  began 
to  frequent  the  bar  of  the  Hare  and  Hounds. 
Kentish,  the  landlord,  was  a  stout,  bull-necked 
man,  of  no  great  communicativeness  at  first ;  but 
after  a  little  acquaintance  he  opened  out  wonder- 

36 


THE  LOSS  OF  SAMMY  CROCKETT  37 

fully,  became  quite  a  jolly  (and  rather  intelligent) 
companion,  and  came  out  with  innumerable  anec- 
dotes of  his  sporting  adventures.  He  could  put  a 
very  decent  dinner  on  the  table,  too,  at  the  Hare 
and  Hounds,  and  Hewitt's  frequent  invitation  to 
him  to  join  therein  and  divide  a  bottle  of  the  best 
in  the  cellar  soon  put  the  two  on  the  very  best  of 
terms.  Good  terms  with  Mr.  Kentish  was  Hewitt's 
great  desire,  for  the  information  he  wanted  was  of 
a  sort  that  could  never  be  extracted  by  casual  ques- 
tioning, but  must  be  a  matter  of  open  communi- 
cation by  the  publican,  extracted  in  what  way  it 
might  be. 

"Look  here,"  said  Kentish  one  day,  "I'll  put 
you  on  to  a  good  thing,  my  boy — a  real  good  thing. 
Of  course  you  know  all  about  the  Padfield  135 
Yards  Handicap  being  run  off  now  1 " 

"Well,  I  haven't  looked  into  it  much,"  Hewitt 
replied.  u  Ran  the  first  round  of  heats  last  Satur- 
day and  Monday,  didn't  they  I " 

"They  did.  Well,"— Kentish  spoke  in  a  stage 
whisper  as  he  leaned  over  and  rapped  the  table, — 
"I've  got  the  final  winner  in  this  house."  He  nod- 
ded his  head,  took  a  puff  at  his  cigar,  and  added  in 
his  ordinary  voice  :    ' '  Don' t  say  nothing." 

"No,  of  course  not.  Got  something  on,  of 
course?" 

"  Rather  !  What  do  you  think  ?  Got  any  price 
I  liked.  Been  saving  him  up  for  this.  Why,  he's 
got  twenty-one  yards,  and  he  can  do  even  time  all 
the  way !  Fact !  Why,  he  could  win  runnin' 
back'ards.  He  won  his  heat  on  Monday  like — like 
— like  that !  "    The  gaffer  snapped  his  fingers,  in 


38  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

default  of  a  better  illustration,  and  went  on.  "  He 
might  ha' took  it  a  little  easier,  /think  ;  it's  short- 
ened his  price,  of  course,  him  jumpin'  in  by  two 
yards.  But  you  can  get  decent  odds  now,  if  you 
go  about  it  right.  You  take  my  tip— back  him  for 
his  heat  next  Saturday,  in  the  second  round,  and 
for  the  final.  You'll  get  a  good  price  for  the  final, 
if  you  pop  it  down  at  once.  But  don' t  go  makin' 
a  song  of  it,  will  you,  now  ?  I'm  givin'  you  a  tip  I 
wouldn't  give  any  body  else." 

11  Thanks  very  much  ;  it's  awfully  good  of  you. 
I'll  do  what  you  advise.  But  isn't  there  a  dark 
horse  anywhere  else  ? " 

"Not  dark  to  me,  my  boy,  not  dark  to  me.  I 
know  every  man  runnin'  like  a  book.  Old  Taylor 
— him  over  at  the  Cop — he's  got  a  very  good  lad — 
eighteen  yards,  and  a  very  good  lad  indeed ;  and 
he's  a  tryer  this  time,  I  know.  But,  bless  you,  my 
lad  could  give  him  ten,  instead  o'  taking  three,  and 
beat  him  then!  When  I'm  runnin'  a  real  tryer, 
I'm  generally  runnin'  something  very  near  a  winner, 
you  bet ;  and  this  time,  mind  this,  time,  I'm  runnin' 
the  certainest  winner  I  ever  run — and  I  don't  often 
make  a  mistake.     You  back  him." 

"  I  shall,  if  you're  as  sure  as  that.  But  who  is 
he?" 

"  Oh,  Crockett's  his  name — Sammy  Crockett. 
He's  quite  a  new  lad.  I've  got  young  Steggles 
looking  after  him — sticks  to  him  like  wax.  Takes 
his  little  breathers  in  my  bit  o'  ground  at  the  back 
here.  I've  got  a  cinder  sprint  path  there,  over  be- 
hind the  trees.  I  don't  let  him  out  o'  sight  much, 
I  can  tell  you.    He's  a  straight  lad,  and  be  knows 


THE  LOSS   OF  SAMMY   CROCKETT  39 

it  '11  be  worth  his  while  to  stick  to  me  ;  but  there's 
some  'ud  poison  him,  if  they  thought  he'd  spoil 
their  books." 

Soon  afterward  the  two  strolled  toward  the  tap- 
room. *  *  I  expect  Sammy '  11  be  there, ' '  the  landlord 
said,  "with  Steggles.  I  don't  hide  him  too  much 
—  they'd  think  I'd  got  something  extra  on  if  I 
did." 

In  the  tap-room  sat  a  lean,  wire-drawn-looking 
youth,  with  sloping  shoulders  and  a  thin  face,  and 
by  his  side  was  a  rather  short,  thick-set  man,  who 
had  an  odd  air,  no  matter  what  he  did,  of  proprie- 
torship and  surveillance  of  the  lean  youth.  Sev- 
eral other  men  sat  about,  and  there  was  loud  laugh- 
ter, under  which  the  lean  youth  looked  sheepishly 
angry. 

"'Tarn't  no  good,  Sammy,  lad,"  some  one  was 
saying,  "you  a-makin'  after  Nancy  Webb — she'll 
ha'  nowt  to  do  with  'ee." 

"Don'  like  'em  so  thread-papery,"  added  an- 
other. "No,  Sammy,  you  aren't  the  lad  for  she. 
I  see  her " 

"What  about  Nancy  Webb?"  asked  Kentish, 
pushing  open  the  door.  "  Sammy's  all  right,  any 
way.  You  keep  fit,  my  lad,  an'  go  on  improving, 
and  some  day  you'll  have  as  good  a  house  as  me. 
Never  mind  the  lasses.  Had  his  glass  o'  beer,  has 
he?"  This  to  Raggy  Steggles,  who,  answering  in 
the  affirmative,  viewed  his  charge  as  though  he 
were  a  post,  and  the  beer  a  recent  coat  of  paint. 

"  Has  two  glasses  of  mild  a  day,"  the  landlord 
said  to  Hewitt.  "Never  puts  on  flesh,  so  he  can 
stand  it.    Come  out  now."    He  nodded  to  Steggles, 


40 

who  rose  and  marched  Sammy  Crockett  away  for 
exercise. 

On  the  following  afternoon  (it  was  Thursday),  as 
Hewitt  and  Kentish  chatted  in  the  landlord's  own 
snuggery,  Steggles  burst  into  the  room  in  a  great 
state  of  agitation  and  spluttered  out :  "He — he's 
bolted  ;  gone  away  !  " 

"What?" 

' '  Sammy — gone  !    Hooked  it !    /can't  find  him. ' ' 

The  landlord  stared  blankly  at  the  trainer,  who 
stood  with  a  sweater  dangling  from  his  hand  and 
stared  blankly  back.  "  What  d'ye  mean  \  "  Kent- 
ish said,  at  last.  "Don't  be  a  fool!  He's  in  the 
place  somewhere.     Find  him  ! " 

But  this  Steggles  defied  any  body  to  do.  He  had 
looked  already.  He  had  left  Crockett  at  the 
cinder-path  behind  the  trees  in  his  running- gear, 
with  the  addition  of  the  long  overcoat  and  cap  he 
used  in  going  between  the  path  and  the  house  to 
guard  against  chill.  "I  was  goin'  to  give  him 
a  bust  or  two  with  the  pistol,"  the  trainer  ex- 
plained, "but,  when  we  got  over  t'other  side, 
'  Raggy,'  ses  he,  'it's  blawin'  a  bit  chilly.  I  think 
I'll  ha'  a  sweater.  There's  one  on  my  box,  ain't 
there  ? '  So  in  I  coomes  for  the  sweater,  and  it 
weren't  on  his  box,  and,  when  I  found  it  and  got 
back — he  weren't  there.  They'd  seen  nowt  o'  him 
in  t'  house,  and  he  weren't  nowhere." 

Hewitt  and  the  landlord,  now  thoroughly  star- 
tled, searched  everywhere,  but  to  no  purpose. 
"What  should  he  go  off  the  place  for?"  asked 
Kentish,  in    a  sweat  of  apprehension.     "'Tain't 


THE  LOSS   OF  SAMMY   CROCKETT  41 

chilly  a  bit — it's  warm.  He  didn't  want  no 
sweater ;  never  wore  one  before.  It  was  a  piece  of 
kid  to  be  able  to  clear  out.  Nice  thing,  this  is. 
I  stand  to  win  two  years'  takings  over  him.  Here 
— you'll  have  to  find  him." 

"Ah,  but  how?"  exclaimed  the  disconcerted 
trainer,  dancing  about  distractedly.  "I've  got  all 
I  could  scrape  on  him  myself.  Where  can  I 
look?" 

Here  was  Hewitt's  opportunity.  He  took  Kent- 
ish aside  and  whispered.  What  he  said  startled 
the  landlord  considerably.  "Yes,  I'll  tell  you  all 
about  that,"  he  said,  "  if  that's  all  you  want.  It's 
no  good  or  harm  to  me  whether  I  tell  or  no.  But 
can  you  find  him  ? " 

"  That  I  can' t  promise,  of  course.  But  you  know 
who  I  am  now,  and  what  I'm  here  for.  If  you  like 
to  give  me  the  information  I  want,  I'll  go  into 
the  case  for  you,  and,  of  course,  I  sha'n't  charge 
any  fee.  I  may  have  luck,  you  know,  but  I  can' t 
promise,  of  course." 

The  landlord  looked  in  Hewitt's  face  for  a 
moment.     Then  he  said :  "  Done  !    It's  a  deal." 

"  Very  good,"  Hewitt  replied  ;  "  get  together  the 
one  or  two  papers  you  have,  and  we'll  go  into  my 
business  in  the  evening.  As  to  Crockett,  don't  say 
a  word  to  any  body.  I'm  afraid  it  must  get  out, 
since  they  all  know  about  it  in  the  house,  but 
there's  no  use  in  making  any  unnecessary  noise. 
Don't  make  hedging  bets  or  do  any  thing  that  will 
attract  notice.  Now  we'll  go  over  to  the  back  and 
look  at  this  cinder-path  of  yours." 

Here  Steggles,  who  was  still  standing  near,  was 


42  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

struck  with  an  idea.  "  How  about  old  Taylor,  at 
the  Cop,  guv' nor,  eh  ?"  he  said  meaningly.  "His 
lad's  good  enough  to  win  with  Sammy  out,  and 
Taylor  is  backing  him  plenty.  Think  he  knows 
anything  o'  this?" 

"That's  likely,"  Hewitt  observed,  before  Kentish 
could  reply.  "  Yes.  Look  here — suppose  Steg- 
gles  goes  and  keeps  his  eye  on  the  Cop  for  an  hour 
or  two,  in  case  there's  any  thing  to  be  heard  of? 
Don't  show  yourself,  of  course." 

Kentish  agreed,  and  the  trainer  went.  When 
Hewitt  and  Kentish  arrived  at  the  path  behind  the 
trees,  Hewitt  at  once  began  examining  the  ground. 
One  or  two  rather  large  holes  in  the  cinders  were 
made,  as  the  publican  explained,  by  Crockett,  in 
practising  getting  off  his  mark.  Behind  these  were 
several  fresh  tracks  of  spiked  shoes.  The  tracks 
led  up  to  within  a  couple  of  yards  of  the  high  fence 
bounding  the  ground,  and  there  stopped  abruptly 
and  entirely.  In  the  fence,  a  little  to  the  right  of 
where  the  tracks  stopped,  there  was  a  stout  door, 
This  Hewitt  tried,  and  found  ajar. 

"That's  always  kept  bolted,"  Kentish  said. 
"He's  gone  out  that  way — he  couldn't  have  gone 
any  other  without  comin'  through  the  house." 

"But  he  isn't  in  the  habit  of  making  a  step 
three  yards  long,  is  he?"  Hewitt  .asked,  pointing 
at  the  last  footmark  and  then  at  the  door,  which 
was  quite  that  distance  away  from  it.  "  Besides," 
he  added,  opening  the  door,  "there's  no  footprint 
here  nor  outside." 

The  door  opened  on  a  lane,  with  another  fence 
and  a  thick  plantation  of  trees  at  the  other  side. 


THE  LOSS  OP  SAMMY  CROCKETT  43 

Kentish  looked  at  the  footmarks,  then  at  the  door, 
then  down  the  lane,  and  finally  back  toward  the 
house.     "  That's  a  licker  !  "  he  said. 

"This  is  a  quiet  sort  of  lane,"  was  Hewitt's  next 
remark.  "No  houses  in  sight.  Where  does  it 
lead?" 

"  That  way  it  goes  to  the  Old  Kilns — disused. 
This  way  down  to  a  turning  off  the  Padfield  and 
Catton  road." 

Hewitt  returned  to  the  cinder-path  again,  and 
once  more  examined  the  footmarks.  He  traced 
them  back  over  the  grass  toward  the  house.  "  Cer- 
tainly," he  said,  "he  hasn't  gone  back  to  the  house. 
Here  is  the  double  line  of  tracks,  side  by  side,  from 
the  house — Steggles's  ordinary  boots  with  iron  tips, 
and  Crockett's  running  pumps;  thus  they  came 
out.  Here  is  Steggles's  track  in  the  opposite  direc- 
tion alone,  made  when  he  went  back  for  the 
sweater.  Crockett  remained ;  you  see  various 
prints  in  those  loose  cinders  at  the  end  of  the  path 
where  he  moved  this  way  and  that,  and  then  two  or 
three  paces  toward  the  fence — not  directly  toward 
the  door,  you  notice — and  there  they  stop  dead, 
and  there  are  no  more,  either  back  or  forward. 
Now,  if  he  had  wings,  I  should  be  tempted  to 
the  opinion  that  he  flew  straight  away  in  the 
air  from  that  spot — unless  the  earth  swallowed 
him  and  closed  again  without  leaving  a  wrinkle 
on  its  face." 

Kentish  stared  gloomily  at  the  tracks  and  said 
nothing. 

"  However,"  Hewitt  resumed,  "  I  think  I'll  take 
a  little  walk  now  and  think  over  it.    You  go  into 


44  MAETIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOE 

the  house  and  show  yourself  at  the  bar.  If  any- 
body wants  to  know  how  Crockett  is,  he's  pretty 
well,  thank  you.  By-the-bye,  can  I  get  to  the  Cop 
—this  place  of  Taylor's — by  this  back  lane  ? " 

"Yes,  down  to  the  end  leading  to  the  Catton 
road,  turn  to  the  left  and  then  first  on  the  right. 
Any  one' 11  show  you  the  Cop,"  and  Kentish  shut 
the  door  behind  the  detective,  who  straightway 
walked — toward  the  Old  Kilns. 

In  little  more  than  an  hour  he  was  back.  It  was 
now  becoming  dusk,  and  the  landlord  looked  out 
papers  from  a  box  near  the  side  window  of  his 
snuggery,  for  the  sake  of  the  extra  light.  "I've 
got  these  papers  together  for  you,"  he  said,  as 
Hewitt  entered.     "  Any  news  I " 

"Nothing  very  great.  Here's  a  bit  of  hand- 
writing I  want  you  to  recognize,  if  you  can.  Get 
a  light." 

Kentish  lit  a  lamp,  and  Hewitt  laid  upon  the 
table  half-a-dozen  small  pieces  of  torn  paper,  evi- 
dently fragments  of  a  letter  which  had  been  torn 
up,  here  reproduced  in  fac-simile  : 


The  landlord  turned  the  scraps  over,  regarding 
them  dubiously  t    "  These  aren't  much  to  recognize, 


THE  LOSS  OF  SAMMY  CEOCKETT  45 

anyhow,  /  don't  know  the  writing.  Where  did 
you  find  'em?" 

"  They  were  lying  in  the  lane  at  the  back,  a  little 
way  down.  Plainly  they  are  pieces  of  a  note  ad- 
dressed to  some  one  called  Sammy  or  something 
very  like  it.  See  the  first  piece,  with  its  '  mmy  '  ? 
That  is  clearly  from  the  beginning  of  the  note,  be- 
cause there  is  no  line  between  it  and  the  smooth, 
straight  edge  of  the  paper  above ;  also,  nothing 
follows  on  the  same  line.  Some  one  writes  to 
Crockett — presuming  it  to  be  a  letter  addressed  to 
him,  as  I  do  for  other  reasons — as  Sammy.  It  is 
a  pity  that  there  is  no  more  of  the  letter  to  be 
found  than  these  pieces.  I  expect  the  person  who 
tore  it  up  put  the  rest  in  his  pocket  and  dropped 
these  by  accident." 

Kentish,  who  had  been  picking  up  and  examining 
each  piece  in  turn,  now  dolorously  broke  out : 

"Oh,  it's  plain  he's  sold  us — bolted  and  done  us  ; 
me  as  took  him  out  o'  the  gutter,  too.  Look  here — 
'throw  them  over';  that's  plain  enough — can't 
mean  any  thing  else.  Means  throw  me  over,  and 
my  friends — me,  after  what  I'  ve  done  for  him !  Then 
' right  away' — go  right  away,  I  s'pose,  as  he  has 
done.  Then" — he  was  fiddling  with  the  scraps  and 
finally  fitted  two  together — "why,  look  here,  this 
one  with  '  lane '  on  it  fits  over  the  one  about  throw- 
ing over,  and  it  says  'poor  f  where  it's  torn  ;  that 
means  'poor  fool,'  I  s'pose — me,  or  'fathead,'  or 
something  like  that.  That's  nice.  Why,  I'd  twist 
his  neck  if  I  could  get  hold  of  him  ;  and  I  will ! " 

Hewitt  smiled.  "Perhaps  it's  not  quite  so 
uncomplimentary,  after  all,"   he  said.     "If   you 


46  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

can't  recognize  the  writing,  never  mind.  But,  if 
he's  gone  away  to  sell  you,  it  isn't  much  use  find- 
ing him,  is  it  ?    He  won' t  win  if  he  doesn'  t  want  to. ' ' 

"Why,  he  wouldn't  dare  to  rope  under  my  very 
eyes.    I'd— I'd " 

"  Well,  well ;  perhaps  we'll  get  him  to  run,  after 
all,  and  as  well  as  he  can.  One  thing  is  certain — 
he  left  this  place  of  his  own  will.  Further,  I  think 
he  is  in  Padfield  now ;  he  went  toward  the  town,  I 
believe.    And  I  don't  think  he  means  to  sell  you." 

"Well,  he  shouldn't.  I've  made  it  worth  his 
while  to  stick  to  me.  I've  put  a  fifty  on  for  him 
out  of  my  own  pocket,  and  told  him  so  ;  and,  if  he 
won,  that  would  bring  him  a  lump  more  than  he'd 
probably  get  by  going  crooked,  besides  the  prize 
money  and  any  thing  I  might  give  him  over.  But 
it  seems  to  me  he's  putting  me  in  the  cart  al- 
together." 

"That  we  shall  see.  Meantime,  don't  mention 
any  thing  I've  told  you  to  any  one — not  even  to 
Steggles.  He  can't  help  us,  and  he  might  blurt 
things  out  inadvertently.  Don't  say  any  thing 
about  these  pieces  of  paper,  which  I  shall  keep 
myself.  By-the-bye,  Steggles  is  indoors,  isn't  he? 
Very  well,  keep  him  in.  Don't  let  him  be  seen 
hunting  about  this  evening.  I'll  stay  here  to-night 
and  we'll  proceed  with  Crockett's  business  in  the 
•morning.  And  now  we'll  settle  my  business, 
please." 

In  the  morning  Hewitt  took  his  breakfast  in  the 
snuggery,  carefully  listening  to  any  conversation 
that  might  take  place  at  the  bar.     Soon  after  nine 


THE  LOSS  OP  SAMMY  CROCKETT  47 

o'clock  a  fast  dog-cart  stopped  outside,  and  a  red- 
faced,  loud-voiced  man  swaggered  in,  greeting 
Kentish  with  boisterous  cordiality.  He  had  a 
drink  with  the  landlord,  and  said  :  "  How's  things  I 
Fancy  any  of  'em  for  the  sprint  handicap?  Got  a 
lad  o'  your  own  in,  haven't  you  ? " 

"Oh,  yes,"  Kentish  replied.  "Crockett.  Only 
a  young  un  not  got  to  his  proper  mark  yet,  I  reckon. 
I  think  old  Taylor's  got  No.  1  this  time." 

"  Capital  lad,"  the  other  replied,  with  a  confiden- 
tial nod.  "  Shouldn't  wonder  at  all.  Want  to  do 
any  thing  yourself  over  it  ? " 

"  No,  I  don't  think  so.  I'm  not  on  at  present. 
Might  have  a  little  flutter  on  the  grounds  just  for 
fun;  nothing  else." 

There  were  a  few  more  casual  remarks,  and  then 
the  red-faced  man  drove  away. 

"Who  was  that?"  asked  Hewitt,  who  had 
watched  the  visitor  through  the  snuggery  window. 

"That's  Danby — bookmaker.  Cute  chap.  He's 
.been  told  Crockett's  missing,  I'll  bet  any  thing,  and 
come  here  to  pump  me.  No  good,  though.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  I've  worked  Sammy  Crockett  into 
his  books  for  about  half  I'm  in  for  altogether — 
through  third  parties,  of  course." 

Hewitt  reached  for  his  hat.  "I'm  going  out  for 
half-an-hour  now,"  he  said.  "If  Steggles  wants  to 
go  out  before  I  come  back,  don't  let  him.  Let  him 
go  and  smooth  over  all  those  tracks  on  the  cinder- 
path,  very  carefully.  And,  by-the-bye,  could  you 
manage  to  have  your  son  about  the  place  to-day, 
in  case  I  happen  to  want  a  little  help  out  of 
doors?" 


48  MAETIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

"  Certainly  ;  I'll  get  him  to  stay  in.  But  what  do 
you  want  the  cinders  smoothed  for  ? " 

Hewitt  smiled,  and  patted  his  host's  shoulder. 
"I'll  explain  all  my  little  tricks  when  the  job's 
done,"  he  said,  and  went  out. 

On  the  lane  from  Padfield  to  Sedby  village  stood 
the  Plough  beer-house,  wherein  J.  Webb  was 
licensed  to  sell  by  retail  beer  to  be  consumed  on  the 
premises  or  off,  as  the  thirsty  list.  Nancy  Webb, 
with  a  very  fine  color,  a  very  curly  fringe,  and  a 
wide  smiling  mouth  revealing  a  fine  set  of  teeth, 
came  to  the  bar  at  the  summons  of  a  stoutish  old 
gentleman  in  spectacles  who  walked  with  a  stick. 

The  stoutish  old  gentleman  had  a  glass  of  bitter 
beer,  and  then  said  in  the  peculiarly  quiet  voice  of 
a  very  deaf  man  :  "  Can  you  tell  me,  if  you  please, 
the  way  into  the  main  Catton  road  ?" 

"  Down  the  lane,  turn  to  the  right  at  the  cross- 
roads, then  first  to  the  left." 

The  old  gentleman  waited  with  his  hand  to  his 
ear  for  some  few  seconds  after  she  had  finished 
speaking,  and  then  resumed  in  his  whispering 
voice :  "  I'm  afraid  I'm  very  deaf  this  morning." 
He  fumbled  in  his  pocket  and  produced  a  note-book 
and  pencil.  "  May  I  trouble  you  to  write  it  down  ? 
I'm  so  very  deaf  at  times  that  I Thank  you." 

The  girl  wrote  the  direction,  and  the  old  gentle- 
man bade  her  good-morning  and  left.  All  down 
the  lane  he  walked  slowly  with  his  stick.  At  the 
cross-roads  he  turned,  put  the  stick  under  his  arm, 
thrust  the  spectacles  into  his  pocket,  and  strode 
away  in  the  ordinary  guise  of  Martin  Hewitt.    He 


THE  LOSS  OF  SAMMY  CEOCKETT  49 

pulled  out  his  note-book,  examined  Miss  Webb's 
direction  very  carefully,  and  then  went  off  another 
way  altogether,  toward  the  Hare  and  Hounds. 

Kentish  lounged  moodily  in  his  bar.  "  Well, 
my  boy,"  said  Hewitt,  "has  Steggles  wiped  out  the 
tracks?" 

"  Not  yet;  I  haven't  told  him.  But  he's  some- 
where about ;  I'll  tell  him  now." 

"  No,  don't.  I  don't  think  we'll  have  that  done, 
after  all.  I  expect  he'll  want  to  go  out  soon — at 
any  rate,  some  time  during  the  day.  Let  him  go 
whenever  he  likes.  I'll  sit  upstairs  a  bit  in  the 
club-room." 

"Very  well.  But  how  do  you  know  Steggles 
will  be  going  out  ? " 

"  Well,  he's  pretty  restless  after  his  lost  protege, 
isn't  he?  I  don't  suppose  he'll  be  able  to  remain 
idle  long." 

"  And  about  Crockett.     Do  you  give  him  up  I " 

"  Oh,  no  !  Don't  you  be  impatient.  I  can't  say 
I'm  quite  confident  yet  of  laying  hold  of  him, — the 
time  is  so  short,  you  see, — but  I  think  I  shall  at 
least  have  news  for  you  by  the  evening." 

Hewitt  sat  in  the  club-room  until  the  afternoon, 
taking  his  lunch  there.  At  length  he  saw,  through 
the  front  window,  Raggy  Steggles  walking  down 
the  road.  In  an  instant  Hewitt  was  down  stairs  and 
at  the  door.  The  road  bent  eighty  yards  away,  and 
as  soon  as  Steggles  passed  the  bend  the  detective 
hurried  after  him. 

All  the  way  to  Padfield  town  and  more  than  half 
through  it  Hewitt  dogged  the  trainer.     In  the  end 


50 

Steggles  stopped  at  a  corner  and  gave  a  note  to  a 
small  boy  who  was  playing  near.  The  boy  ran  with 
the  note  to  a  bright,  well-kept  house  at  the  opposite 
corner.  Martin  Hewitt  was  interested  to  observe 
the  legend,  "H.  Danby,  Contractor,"  on  a  board 
over  a  gate  in  the  side  wall  of  the  garden  behind 
this  house.  In  five  minutes  a  door  in  the  side  gate 
opened,  and  the  head  and  shoulders  of  the  red- 
faced  man  emerged.  Steggles  immediately  hurried 
across  and  disappeared  through  the  gate.- 

This  was  both  interesting  and  instructive.  Hewitt 
took  up  a  position  in  the  side  street  and  waited.  In 
ten  minutes  the  trainer  reappeared  and  hurried 
off  the  way  he  had  come,  along  the  street  Hewitt 
had  considerately  left  clear  for  him.  Then  Hewitt 
strolled  toward  the  smart  house  and  took  a  good  look 
at  it.  At  one  corner  of  the  small  piece  of  forecourt 
garden,  near  the  railings,  a  small,  baize-covered, 
glass-fronted  notice-board  stood  on  two  posts.  On 
its  top  edge  appeared  the  words  "H.  Danby. 
Houses  to  be  Sold  or  Let."  But  the  only  notice 
pinned  to  the  green  baize  within  was  an  old  and 
dusty  one,  inviting  tenants  for  three  shops,  which 
were  suitable  for  any  business,  and  which  would  be 
fitted  to  suit  tenants.     Apply  within. 

Hewitt  pushed  open  the  front  gate  and  rang  the 
door-bell.  "  There  are  some  shops  to  let,  I  see," 
he  said,  when  a  maid  appeared.  "  I  should  like  to 
see  them,  if  you  will  let  me  have  the  key." 

"  Master's  out,  sir.  You  can't  see  the  shops  till 
Monday." 

"Dear  me,  that's  unfortunate.  I'm  afraid  I 
can't  wait  till  Monday.    Didn't  Mr.  Danby  leave 


THE  LOSS  OF  SAMMY  CROCKETT  51 

any  instructions,  in  case  any  body  should  en- 
quire f" 

"Yes,  sir — as  I've  told  you.  He  said  any 
body  who  called  about  'em  must  come  again  on 
Monday." 

"  Oh,  very  well,  then ;  I  suppose  I  must  try. 
One  of  the  shops  is  in  High  Street,  isn't  it  I " 

u  No,  sir ;  they're  all  in  the  new  part — Granville 
Koad." 

"  Ah,  I'm  afraid  that  will  scarcely  do.  But  I'll 
see.     Good-day." 

Martin  Hewitt  walked  away  a  couple  of  streets' 
lengths  before  he  enquired  the  way  to  Granville 
Road.  When  at  last  he  found  that  thoroughfare, 
in  a  new  and  muddy  suburb,  crowded  with  brick- 
heaps  and  half-finished  streets,  he  took  a  slow 
walk  along  its  entire  length.  It  was  a  melancholy 
example  of  baffled  enterprise.  A  row  of  a  dozen 
or  more  shops  had  been  built  before  any  popula- 
tion had  arrived  to  demand  goods.  Would-be 
tradesmen  had  taken  many  of  these  shops,  and 
failure  and  disappointment  stared  from  the  win- 
dows. Some  were  half  covered  by  shutters,  be- 
cause the  scanty  stock  scarce  sufficed  to  fill  the 
remaining  half.  Others  were  shut  almost  alto- 
gether, the  inmates  only  keeping  open  the  door  for 
their  own  convenience,  and,  perhaps,  keeping  down 
a  shutter  for  the  sake  of  a  little  light.  Others, 
again,  had  not  yet  fallen  so  low,  but  struggled 
bravely  still  to  maintain  a  show  of  business  and 
prosperity,  with  very  little  success.  Opposite  the 
shops  there  still  remained  a  dusty,  ill-treated  hedge 
and  a  forlorn-looking  field,  which  an  old  board 


52  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

offered  on  building  leases.  Altogether  a  most 
depressing  spot. 

There  was  little  difficulty  in  identifying  the  three 
shops  offered  for  letting  by  Mr.  H.  Danby.  They 
were  all  together  near  the  middle  of  the  row,  and 
were  the  only  ones  that  appeared  not  yet  to  have 
been  occupied.  A  dusty  "To  Let"  bill  hung  in 
each  window,  with  written  directions  to  enquire  of 
Mr.  H.  Danby  or  at  No.  7.  Now  No.  7  was  a 
melancholy  baker's  shop,  with  a  stock  of  three 
loaves  and  a  plate  of  stale  buns.  The  disappointed 
baker  assured  Hewitt  that  he  usually  kept  the 
keys  of  the  shops,  but  that  the  landlord,  Mr, 
Danby,  had  taken  them  away  the  day  before  to 
see  how  the  ceilings  were  standing,  and  had  not 
returned  them.  "  But  if  you  was  thinking  of  tak- 
ing a  shop  here,"  the  poor  baker  added,  with  some 
hesitation,  "  I — I — if  you'll  excuse  my  advising 
you— I  shouldn't  recommend  it.  I've  had  a  sick- 
ener of  it  myself." 

Hewitt  thanked  the  baker  for  his  advice,  wished 
him  better  luck  in  future,  and  left.  To  the  Hare 
and  Hounds  his  pace  was  brisk.  "Come,"  he 
said,  as  he  met  Kentish's  enquiring  glance,  "this 
has  been  a  very  good  day,  on  the  whole.  I  know 
where  our  man  is  now,  and  I  think  we  can  get  him, 
by  a  little  management." 

"Where  is  he?" 

' '  Oh,  down  in  Padfield.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  he' s 
being  kept  there  against  his  will,  we  shall  find.  I 
see  that  your  friend  Mr.  Danby  is  a  builder  as 
well  as  a  bookmaker." 

"  Not  a  regular  builder.      He  speculates  in  a 


THE  LOSS  OF  SAMMY  CEOCKETT  53 

street  of  new  houses  now  and  again,  that's  all. 
But  is  he  in  it!" 

uHe's  as  deep  in  it  as  any  body,  I  think.  Now, 
don't  fly  into  a  passion.  There  are  a  few  others  in 
it  as  well,  but  you'll  do  harm  if  you  don't  keep 
quiet." 

"  But  go  and  get  the  police ;  come  and  fetch  him, 
if  you  know  where  they'  re  keeping  him.    Why ' ' 

"  So  we  will,  if  we  can't  do  it  without  them.  But 
it's  quite  possible  we  can,  and  without  all  the  dis- 
turbance and,  perhaps,  delay  that  calling  in  the 
police  would  involve.  Consider,  now,  in  reference 
to  your  own  arrangements.  Wouldn't  it  pay  you 
better  to  get  him  back  quietly,  without  a  soul 
knowing — perhaps  not  even  Danby  knowing — till 
the  heat  is  run  to-morrow?" 

11  Well,  yes,  it  would,  of  course." 

"Very  good,  then,  so  be  it.  Remember  what  I 
have  told  you  about  keeping  your  mouth  shut ;  say 
nothing  to  Steggles  or  any  body.  Is  there  a  cab  or 
brougham  your  son  and  I  can  have  for  the  evening  ? " 

"There's  an  old  hiring  landau  in  the  stables  you 
can  shut  up  into  a  cab,  if  that  '11  do." 

"Excellent.  We'll  run  down  to  the  town  in  it  as 
soon  as  it's  ready.  But,  first,  a  word  about  Crock- 
ett. What  sort  of  a  lad  is  he?  Likely  to  give 
them  trouble,  show  fight,  and  make  a  disturbance  1 " 

"No,  I  should  say  not.  He's  no  plucked  un, 
certainly ;  all  his  manhood's  in  his  legs,  I  believe. 
You  see,  he  ain't  a  big  sort  o'  chap  at  best,  and 
he'd  be  pretty  easy  put  upon — at  least,  I  guess  so." 

"Very  good,  so  much  the  better,  for  then  he 
won't  have  been  damaged,  and  they  will  probably 


54 

only  have  one  man  to  guard  him.  Now  the  car- 
riage, please." 

Young  Kentish  was  a  six-foot  sergeant  of  gren- 
adiers home  on  furlough,  and  luxuriating  in  plain 
clothes.  He  and  Hewitt  walked  a  little  way  toward 
the  town,  allowing  the  landau  to  catch  them  up. 
They  travelled  in  it  to  within  a  hundred  yards  of 
the  empty  shops  and  then  alighted,  bidding  the 
driver  wait. 

"I  shall  show  you  three  empty  shops,"  Hewitt 
said,  as  he  and  young  Kentish  walked  down  Gran- 
ville Road.  "  I  am  pretty  sure  that  Sammy  Crock- 
ett is  in  one  of  them,  and  I  am  pretty  sure  that  that 
is  the  middle  one.     Take  a  look  as  we  go  past." 

When  the  shops  had  been  slowly  passed,  Hewitt 
resumed:  "  Now,  did  you  see  any  thing  about  those 
shops  that  told  a  tale  of  any  sort  i " 

"No,"  Sergeant  Kentish  replied.  "I  can't  say 
I  noticed  any  thing  beyond  the  fact  that  they  were 
empty — and  likely  to  stay  so,  I  should  think." 

"We'll  stroll  back,  and  look  in  at  the  windows, 
if  nobody's  watching  us,"  Hewitt  said.  "You  see, 
it's  reasonable  to  suppose  they've  put  him  in  the 
middle  one,  because  that  would  suit  their  purpose 
best.  The  shops  at  each  side  of  the  three  are  occu- 
pied, and,  if  the  prisoner  struggled,  or  shouted,  or 
made  an  uproar,  he  might  be  heard  if  he  were  in 
one  of  the  shops  next  those  inhabited.  So  that  the 
middle  shop  is  the  most  likely.  Now,  see  there," 
he  went  on,  as  they  stopped  before  the  window  of 
the  shop  in  question,  "over  at  the  back  there's  a 
staircase  not  yet  partitioned  off.  It  goes  down 
below  and  up  above.     On  the  stairs  and  on  the  floor 


THE  LOSS  OP  SAMMY  CROCKETT  55 

near  them  there  are  muddy  footmarks.  These  must 
have  been  made  to-day,  else  they  would  not  be 
muddy,  but  dry  and  dusty,  since  there  hasn't  been 
a  shower  for  a  week  till  to-day.  Move  on  again. 
Then  you  noticed  that  there  were  no  other  such 
marks  in  the  shop.  Consequently  the  man  with  the 
muddy  feet  did  not  come  in  by  the  front  door,  but 
by  the  back  ;  otherwise  he  would  have  made  a  trail 
from  the  door.  So  we  will  go  round  to  the  back 
ourselves." 

It  was  now  growing  dusk.  The  small  pieces  of 
ground  behind  the  shops  were  bounded  by  a  low 
fence,  containing  a  door  for  each  house. 

'  'This  door  is  bolted  inside,  of  course,"  Hewitt 
said,  "but  there  is  no  difficulty  in  climbing.  I 
think  we  had  better  wait  in  the  garden  till  dark. 
In  the  meantime,  the  jailer,  whoever  he  is,  may 
come  out ;  in  which  case  we  shall  pounce  on  him  as 
soon  as  he  opens  the  door.  You  have  that  few 
yards  of  cord  in  your  pocket,  I  think  ?  And  my 
handkerchief,  properly  rolled,  will  make  a  very 
good  gag.     Now  over." 

They  climbed  the  fence  and  quietly  approached 
the  house,  placing  themselves  in  the  angle  of  an 
outhouse  out  of  sight  from  the  windows.  There 
was  no  sound,  and  no  light  appeared.  Just 
above  the  ground  about  a  foot  of  window  was 
visible,  with  a  grating  over  it,  apparently  lighting 
a  basement.  Suddenly  Hewitt  touched  his  com- 
panion's arm  and  pointed  toward  the  window.  A 
faint  rustling  sound  was  perceptible,  and,  as  nearly 
as  could  be  discerned  in  the  darkness,  some  white 
blind  or  covering  was  placed  over  the  glass  from 


56  MAETIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOE 

the  inside.  Then  came  the  sound  of  a  striking 
match,  and  at  the  side  edge  of  the  window  there 
was  a  faint  streak  of  light. 

" That's  the  place,' '  Hewitt  whispered.  "  Come, 
we'll  make  a  push  for  it.  You  stand  against  the 
wall  at  one  side  of  the  door  and  I'll  stand  at  the 
other,  and  we'll  have  him  as  he  comes  out.  Quietly, 
now,  and  I'll  startle  them." 

He  took  a  stone  from  among  the  rubbish  littering 
the  garden  and  flung  it  crashing  through  the  win- 
dow. There  was  a  loud  exclamation  from  within, 
the  blind  fell,  and  somebody  rushed  to  the  back 
door  and  flung  it  open.  Instantly  Kentish  let  fly 
a  heavy  right-hander,  and  the  man  went  over  like  a 
skittle.  In  a  moment  Hewitt  was  upon  him  and 
the  gag  in  his  mouth. 

"  Hold  him,"  Hewitt  whispered  hurriedly.  "  I'll 
see  if  there  are  others." 

He  peered  down  through  the  low  window. 
Within  Sammy  Crockett,  his  bare  legs  dangling 
from  beneath  his  long  overcoat,  sat  on  a  packing- 
box,  leaning  with  his  head  on  his  hand  and  his 
back  toward  the  window.  A  guttering  candle 
stood  on  the  mantel-piece,  and  the  newspaper  which 
had  been  stretched  across  the  window  lay  in  scat- 
tered sheets  on  the  floor.  No  other  person  besides 
Sammy  was  visible. 

They  led  their  prisoner  indoors.  Young  Kentish 
recognized  him  as  a  public-house  loafer  and  race- 
course ruffian  well  known  in  the  neighborhood. 

"So  it's  you,  is  it,  Browdie?"  he  said.  "I've 
caught  you  one  hard  clump,  and  I've  half  a  mind 
to  make  it  a  score  more.     But  you'll  get  it  pretty 


THE  LOSS  OF  SAMMY  CROCKETT  57 

warm  one  way  or  another  before  this  job's  for- 
gotten." 

Sammy  Crockett  was  overjoyed  at  his  rescue. 
He  had  not  been  ill  treated,  he  explained,  but  had 
been  thoroughly  cowed  by  Browdie,  who  had  from 
time  to  time  threatened  him  savagely  with  an  iron 
bar  by  way  of  persuading  him  to  quietness  and 
submission.  He  had  been  fed,  and  had  taken  no 
worse  harm  than  a  slight  stiffness  from  his  adven- 
ture, due  to  his  light  under-attire  of  jersey  and 
knee-shorts. 

Sergeant  Kentish  tied  Browdie' s  elbows  firmly 
together  behind,  and  carried  the  line  round  the 
ankles,  bracing  all  up  tight.  Then  he  ran  a  knot 
from  one  wrist  to  the  other  over  the  back  of  the 
neck,  and  left  the  prisoner,  trussed  and  helpless, 
on  the  heap  of  straw  that  had  been  Sammy's 
bed. 

"You  won't  be  very  jolly,  I  expect,"  Kentish 
said,  "for  some  time.  You  can't  shout  and  you 
can't  walk,  and  I  know  you  can't  untie  yourself. 
You'll  get  a  bit  hungry,  too,  perhaps,  but  that  '11 
give  you  an  appetite.  I  don't  suppose  you'll  be  dis- 
turbed till  some  time  to-morrow,  unless  our  friend 
Danby  turns  up  in  the  meantime.  But  you  can 
come  along  to  jail  instead,  if  you  prefer  it." 

They  left  him  where  he  lay,  and  took  Sammy  to 
the  old  landau.  Sammy  walked  in  slippers,  carry- 
ing his  spiked  shoes,  hanging  by  the  lace,  in  his 
hand. 

"Ah,"  said  Hewitt,  "  I  think  I  know  the  name  of 
the  young  lady  who  gave  you  those  slippers." 

Crockett  looked  ashamed  and  indignant.    ' '  Yes, ' ' 


58  MARTIN   HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

he  said,  " they've  done  me  nicely  between  'em„ 
But  I'll  pay  her— I'll " 

"  Hush,  hush  !  "  Hewitt  said  ;  "  you  mustn't  talk 
unkindly  of  a  lady,  you  know.  Get  into  this  car- 
riage, and  we'll  take  you  home.  We'll  see  if  I  can 
tell  you  your  adventures  without  making  a  mis- 
take. First,  you  had  a  note  from  Miss  Webb,  tell- 
ing you  that  you  were  mistaken  in  supposing  she 
had  slighted  you,  and  that,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  she 
had  quite  done  with  somebody  else — left  him — of 
whom  you  were  jealous.     Isn't  that  so  I " 

"Well,  yes,"  young  Crockett  answered,  blushing 
deeply  under  the  carriage-lamp  ;  "  but  I  don't  see 
how  you  come  to  know  that." 

"Then  she  went  on  to  ask  you  to  get  rid  of  Steg- 
gles  on  Thursday  afternoon  for  a  few  minutes, 
and  speak  to  her  in  the  back  lane.  Now,  your 
running  pumps,  with  their  thin  soles,  almost  like 
paper,  no  heels  and  long  spikes,  hurt  your  feet 
horribly  if  you  walk  on  hard  ground,  don't 
they?" 

"Ay,  that  they  do — enough  to  cripple  you.  I'd 
never  go  on  much  hard  ground  with  'em." 

"  They're  not  like  cricket  shoes,  I  see." 

"Not  a  bit.  Cricket  shoes  you  can  walk  any- 
where in  !" 

"Well,  she  knew  this, — I  think  I  know  who  told 
her, — and  she  promised  to  bring  you  a  new  pair  of 
slippers,  and  to  throw  them  over  the  fence  for  you 
to  come  out  in." 

"  I  s'pose  she's  been  tellin'  you  all  this  ?"  Crock- 
ett said  mournfully.  "You  couldn't  ha'  seen  the 
letter ;  I  saw  her  tear  it  up  and  put  the  bits  in  her 


THE  LOSS  OF  SAMMY  CROCKETT  59 

pocket.  She  asked  me  for  it  in  the  lane,  in  case 
Steggles  saw  it." 

"  Well,  at  any  rate,  you  sent  Steggles  away,  and 
the  slippers  did  come  over,  and  you  went  into  the 
lane.  You  walked  with  her  as  far  as  the  road  at 
the  end,  and  then  you  were  seized  and  gagged,  and 
put  into  a  carriage." 

"That  was  Browdie  did  that,"  said  Crockett, 
"  and  another  chap  I  don't  know.  But — why,  this 
is  Padfield  High  Street  I "  He  looked  through  the 
window  and  regarded  the  familiar  shops  with  as- 
tonishment. 

"  Of  course  it  is.    Where  did  you  think  it  was  ? " 

"  Why,  where  was  that  place  you  found  me  in  ? " 

"  Granville  Road,  Padfield.  I  suppose  they  told 
you  you  were  in  another  town?" 

"  Told  me  it  was  Newstead  Hatch.  They  drove 
for  about  three  or  four  hours,  and  kept  me  down  on 
the  floor  between  the  seats  so  as  I  couldn't  see  where 
we  was  going." 

"Done  for  two  reasons,"  said  Hewitt.  "First, 
to  mystify  you,  and  prevent,  any  discovery  of  the 
people  directing  the  conspiracy  ;  and  second,  to  be 
able  to  put  you  indoors  at  night  and  unobserved. 
Well,  I  think  I  have  told  you  all  you  know  your- 
self now  as  far  as  the  carriage. 

"But  there  is  the  Hare  and  Hounds  just  in 
front.  We'll  pull  up  here,  and  I'll  get  out  and  see 
if  the  coast  is  clear.  I  fancy  Mr.  Kentish  would 
rather  you  came  in  unnoticed." 

In  a  few  seconds  Hewitt  was  back,  and  Crockett 
was  conveyed  indoors  by  a  side  entrance.  Hewitt's 
instructions  to  the  landlord  were  few,  but  emphatic. 


60  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

" Don't  tell  Steggles  about  it,"  he  said  ;  "make  an 
excuse  to  get  rid  of  him,  and  send  him  out  of  the 
house.  Take  Crockett  into  some  other  bedroom, 
not  his  own,  and  let  your  son  look  after  him. 
Then  come  here,  and  I'll  tell  you  all  about  it." 

Sammy  Crockett  was  undergoing  a  heavy  groom- 
ing with  white  embrocation  at  the  hands  of  Ser- 
geant Kentish  when  the  landlord  returned  to 
Hewitt.  "Does  Danby  know  you've  got  him?" 
he  asked.     "How  did  you  do  it?" 

"Danby  doesn't  know  yet,  and  with  luck  he 
won't  know  till  he  sees  Crockett  running  to-morrow. 
The  man  who  has  sold  you  is  Steggles." 

"Steggles?" 

"  Steggles  it  is.  At  the  very  first,  when  Steggles 
rushed  in  to  report  Sammy  Crockett  missing,  I  sus- 
pected him.    You  didn't,  I  suppose?" 

"No.  He's  always  been  considered  a  straight 
man,  and  he  looked  as  startled  as  any  body." 

"Yes,  I  must  say  he  acted  it  very  well.  But 
there  was  something  suspicious  in  his  story.  What 
did  he  say?  Crockett  had  remarked  a  chilliness, 
and  asked  for  a  sweater,  which  Steggles  went  to 
fetch.  Now,  just  think.  You  understand  these 
things.  Would  any  trainer  who  knew  his  business 
(as  Steggles  does)  have  gone  to  bring  out  a  sweater 
for  his  man  to  change  for  his  jersey  in  the  open  air, 
at  the  very  time  the  man  was  complaining  of  chilli- 
ness ?  Of  course  not.  He  would  have  taken  his 
man  indoors  again  and  let  him  change  there  under 
shelter.  Then  supposing  Steggles  had  really  been 
surprised  at  missing  Crockett,  wouldn't  he  have 
looked  about,  found  the  gate  open?  and  told  you  it 


THE  LOSS   OF  SAMMY   CROCKETT  61 

was  open  when  he  first  came  in  I  He  said  nothing 
of  that — we  found  the  gate  open  for  ourselves.  So 
that  from  the  beginning  I  had  a  certain  opinion  of 
Steggles." 

"  What  you  say  seems  pretty  plain  now,  although 
it  didn't  strike  me  at  the  time.  But,  if  Steggles  was 
selling  us,  why  couldn't  he  have  drugged  the  lad? 
That  would  have  been  a  deal  simpler." 

"  Because  Steggles  is  a  good  trainer,  and  has  a 
certain  reputation  to  keep  up.  It  would  have  done 
him  no  good  to  have  had  a  runner  drugged  while 
under  his  care  ;  certainly  it  would  have  cooked  his 
goose  with  you.  It  was  much  the  safer  thing  to 
connive  at  kidnapping.  That  put  all  the  active 
work  into  other  hands,  and  left  him  safe,  even  if 
the  trick  failed.  Now,  you  remember  that  we 
traced  the  prints  of  Crockett's  spiked  shoes  to 
within  a  couple  of  yards  of  the  fence,  and  that 
there  they  ceased  suddenly  1" 

"Yes.  You  said  it  looked  as  though  he  had 
flown  up  into  the  air ;  and  so  it  did." 

"But  I  was  sure  that  it  was  by  that  gate  that 
Crockett  had  left,  and  by  no  other.  He  couldn't 
have  got  through  the  house  without  being  seen, 
and  there  was  no  other  way — let  alone  the  evi- 
dence of  the  unbolted  gate.  Therefore,  as  the  foot- 
prints ceased  where  they  did,  and  were  not  repeated 
anywhere  in  the  lane,  I  knew  that  he  had  taken  his 
spiked  shoes  off — probably  changed  them  for  some- 
thing else,  because  a  runner  anxious  as  to  his 
chances  would  never  risk  walking  on  bare  feet, 
with  a  chance  of  cutting  them.  Ordinary,  broad, 
smooth-soled  slippers  would  leave  no  impression  on 


62  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

the  coarse  cinders  bordering  the  track,  and  nothing 
short  of  spiked  shoes  would  leave  a  mark  on  the 
hard  path  in  the  lane  behind.  The  spike-tracks 
were  leading,  not  directly  toward  the  door,  but  in 
the  direction  of  the  fence,  when  they  stopped  ; 
somebody  had  handed,  or  thrown,  the  slippers 
over  the  fence,  and  he  had  changed  them  on  the 
spot  The  enemy  had  calculated  upon  the  spikes 
leaving  a  track  in  the  lane  that  might  lead  us  in 
our  search,  and  had  arranged  accordingly. 

"So  far  so  good.  I  could  see  no  footprints  near 
the  gate  in  the  lane.  You  will  remember  that  I 
sent  Steggles  off  to  watch  at  the  Cop  before  I  went 
out  to  the  back — merely,  of  course,  to  get  him  out 
of  the  way.  I  went  out  into  the  lane,  leaving  you 
behind,  and  walked  its  whole  length,  first  toward 
the  Old  Kilns  and  then  back  toward  the  road.  I 
found  nothing  to  help  me  except  these  small  pieces 
of  paper — which  are  here  in  my  pocket-book,  by- 
the-bye.  Of  course  this  '  mmy '  might  have  meant 
*  Jimmy'  or  'Tommy'  as  possibly  as  *  Sammy,'  but 
they  were  not  to  be  rejected  on  that  account.  Cer- 
tainly Crockett  had  been  decoyed  out  of  your 
ground,  not  taken  by  force,  or  there  would  have 
been  marks  of  a  seuflle  in  the  cinders.  And  as  his 
request  for  a  sweater  was  probably  an  excuse — be- 
cause it  was  not  at  all  a  cold  afternoon — he  must 
have  previously  designed  going  out:  inference,  a 
letter  received  ;  and  here  were  pieces  of  a  letter. 
Now,  in  the  light  of  what  I  have  said,  look  at  these 
pieces.  First,  there  is  the  'mmy' — that  I  have 
dealt  with.  Then  see  this  '  throw  them  ov ' — 
clearly  a  part  of  '  throw  them  over '  ;  exactly  what 


THE  LOSS   OF  SAMMY   CROCKETT  63 

had  probably  been  done  with  the  slippers.  Then 
the  'poorf,'  coming  just  on  the  line  before,  and 
seen,  by  joining  np  with  this  other  piece,  might 
easily  be  a  reference  to  '  poor  feet.'  These  coinci- 
dences, one  on  the  other,  went  far  to  establish  the 
identity  of  the  letter,  and  to  confirm  my  previous 
impressions.  But  then  there  is  something  else. 
Two  other  pieces  evidently  mean  'left  him,'  and 
'right  away'— send  Steggles  'right  away,'  per- 
haps ;  but  there  is  another,  containing  almost  all 
of  the  words  'hate  his,'  with  the  word  'hate'  un- 
derlined. Now,  who  writes  'hate'  with  the  em- 
phasis of  underscoring — who  but  a  woman  ?  The 
writing  is  large  and  not  very  regular;  it  might 
easily  be  that  of  a  half-educated  woman.  Here 
was  something  more — Sammy  had  been  enticed 
away  by  a  woman. 

"  Now,  I  remembered  that,  when  we  went  into  the 
tap-room  on  Wednesday,  some  of  his  companions 
were  chaffing  Crockett  about  a  certain  Nancy  Webb, 
and  the  chaff  went  home,  as  was  plain  to  see.  The 
woman,  then,  who  could  most  easily  entice  Sammy 
Crockett  away  was  Nancy  Webb.  I  resolved  to 
find  who  Nancy  Webb  was  and  learn  more  of  her. 

"  Meantime,  I  took  a  look  at  the  road  at  the  end 
of  the  lane.  It  was  damper  than  the  lane,  being 
lower,  and  overhung  by  trees.  There  were  many 
wheel-tracks,  but  only  one  set  that  turned  in  the 
road  and  went  back  the  way  it  came,  toward  the 
town ;  and  they  were  narrow  wheels — carriage- 
wheels.  Crockett  tells  me  now  that  they  drove  him 
about  for  a  long  time  before  shutting  him  up ; 
probably  the  inconvenience  of  taking  him  straight 


64  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

to  the  liiding-place  didn't  strike  them  when  they 
first  drove  off. 

"  A  few  enquiries  soon  set  me  in  the  direction  of 
the  Plough  and  Miss  Nancy  Webb.  I  had  the 
curiosity  to  look  around  the  place  as  I  approached, 
and  there,  in  the  garden  behind  the  house,  were 
Steggles  and  the  young  lady  in  earnest  confabu- 
lation ! 

"  Every  conjecture  became  a  certainty.  Steggles 
was  the  lover  of  whom  Crockett  was  jealous,  and 
he  had  employed  the  girl  to  bring  Sammy  out.  I 
watched  Steggles  home,  and  gave  you  a  hint  to 
keep  him  there. 

"But  the  thing  that  remained  was  to  find  Steg- 
gles's  employer  in  this  business.  I  was  glad  to  be 
in  when  Danby  called.  He  came,  of  course,  to  hear 
if  you  would  blurt  out  any  thing,  and  to  learn,  if 
possible,  what  steps  you  were  taking.  He  failed. 
By  way  of  making  assurance  doubly  sure  I  took  a 
short  walk  this  morning  in  the  character  of  a  deaf 
gentleman,  and  got  Miss  Webb  to  write  me  a  direc- 
tion that  comprised  three  of  the  words  on  these 
scraps  of  paper — 'left,'  'right,'  and  'lane';  see, 
they  correspond,  the  peculiar  'f's,'  't's,'  and  all. 

"Now,  I  felt  perfectly  sure  that  Steggles  would  go 
for  his  pay  to-day.  In  the  first  place,  I  knew  that 
people  mixed  up  with  shady  transactions  in  pro- 
fessional pedestrianism  are  not  apt  to  trust  one 
another  far — they  know  better.  Therefore  Steg- 
gles wouldn't  have  had  his  bribe  first.  But  he 
would  take  care  to  get  it  before  the  Saturday  heats 
were  run,  because  once  they  were  over  the  thing 
was  done,  and  the  principal  conspirator  might  have 


THE  LOSS   OF  SAMMY   CROCKETT  65 

refused  to  pay  up,  and  Steggles  couldn't  have 
helped  himself.  Again  I  hinted  he  should  not  go 
out  till  I  could  follow  him,  and  this  afternoon,  when 
he  went,  follow  him  I  did.  I  saw  him  go  into 
Danby's  house  by  the  side  way  and  come  away 
again.  Danby  it  was,  then,  who  had  arranged  the 
business  ;  and  nobody  was  more  likely,  considering 
his  large  pecuniary  stake  against  Crockett's  win- 
ning this  race. 

"  But  now  how  to  find  Crockett  ?  I  made  up  my 
mind  he  wouldn't  be  in  Danby's  own  house.  That 
would  be  a  deal  too  risky,  with  servants  about  and 
so  on.  I  saw  that  Danby  was  a  builder,  and  had 
three  shops  to  let — it  was  on  a  paper  before  his 
house.  What  more  likely  prison  than  an  empty 
house  ?  I  knocked  at  Danby's  door  and  asked  for 
the  keys  of  those  shops.  I  couldn't  have  them. 
The  servant  told  me  Danby  was  out  (a  manifest  lie, 
for  I  had  just  seen  him),  and  that  nobody  could  see 
the  shops  till  Monday.  But  I  got  out  of  her  the 
address  of  the  shops,  and  that  was  all  I  wanted  at 
the  time. 

"  Now,  why  was  nobody  to  see  those  shops  till 
Monday  ?  The  interval  was  suspicious — just  enough 
to  enable  Crockett  to  be  sent  away  again  and  cast 
loose  after  the  Saturday  racing,  supposing  him 
to  be  kept  in  one  of  the  empty  buildings.  I 
went  off  at  once  and  looked  at  the  shops,  forming 
my  conclusions  as  to  which  would  be  the  most 
likely  for  Danby's  purpose.  Here  I  had  another 
confirmation  of  my  ideas.  A  poor,  half-bankrupt 
baker  in  one  of  the  shops  had,  by  the  bills,  the 
custody  of  a  set  of  keys ;  but  he,  too,  told  me  I 


66  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

couldn't  have  them  ;  Danby  had  taken  them  away 
— and  on  Thursday,  the  very  day — with  some  trivial 
excuse,  and  hadn't  brought  them  back.  That  was 
all  I  wanted  or  could  expect  in  the  way  of  guid- 
ance. The  whole  thing  was  plain.  The  rest  you 
know  all  about." 

"Well,  you're  certainly  as  smart  as  they,  give 
you  credit  for,  I  must  say.  But  suppose  Danby 
had  taken  down  his  '  To  Let '  notice,  what  would 
you  have  done  then  I " 

"We  had  our  course  even  then.  We  should 
have  gone  to  Danby,  astounded  him  by  telling  him 
all  about  his  little  games,  terrorized  him  with 
threats  of  the  law,  and  made  him  throw  up  his 
hand  and  send  Crockett  back.  But  as  it  is,  you 
see,  he  doesn't  know  at  this  moment — probably 
won't  know  till  to-morrow  afternoon — that  the  lad 
is  safe  and  sound  here.  You  will  probably  use  the 
interval  to  make  him  pay  for  losing  the  game — by 
some  of  the  ingenious  financial  devices  you  are  no 
doubt  familiar  with." 

"  Ay,  that  I  will.  He'll  give  any  price  against 
Crockett  now,  so  long  as  the  bet  don't  come  direct 
from  me." 

"But  about  Crockett,  now,"  Hewitt  went  on. 
"Won't  this  confinement  be  likely  to  have  dam- 
aged his  speed  for  a  day  or  two  ? " 

"Ah,  perhaps,"  the  landlord  replied;  "but, 
bless  ye,  that  won't  matter.  There's  four  more  in 
his  heat  to-morrow.  Two  I  know  aren't  tryers,  and 
the  other  two  I  can  hold  in  at  a  couple  of  quid 
apiece  any  day.  The  third  round  and  final  won' t 
be  till  to-morrow  week,  and  he'll  be  as  fit  as  ever  by 


THE  LOSS  OF  SAMMY  CROCKETT  61 

then.  It's  as  safe  as  ever  it  was.  How  much  are 
you  going  to  have  on  ?  I'll  lump  it  on  for  you  safe 
enough.  This  is  a  chance  not  to  be  missed ;  it's 
picking  money  up." 

"  Thank  you  ;  I  don't  think  I'll  have  any  thing 
to  do  with  it.  This  professional  pedestrian  busi- 
ness doesn't  seem  a  pretty  one  at  all.  I  don't  call 
myself  a  moralist,  but,  if  you'll  excuse  my  saying 
so,  the  thing  is  scarcely  the  game  I  care  to  pick  up 
money  at  in  any  way." 

"Oh,  very  well!  if  you  think  so,  I  won't  per- 
suade ye,  though  I  don't  think  so  much  of  your 
smartness  as  I  did,  after  that.  Still,  we  won't 
quarrel ;  you've  done  me  a  mighty  good  turn,  that 
I  must  say,  and  I  only  feel  I  aren't  level  without 
doing  something  to  pay  the  debt.  Come,  now, 
you've  got  your  trade  as  I've  got  mine.  Let  me 
have  the  bill,  and  I'll  pay  it  like  a  lord,  and  feel  a 
deal  more  pleased  than  if  you  made  a  favor  of  it — 
not  that  I'm  above  a  favor,  of  course.  But  I'd 
prefer  paying,  and  that's  a  fact." 

"My  dear  sir,  you  have  paid,"  Hewitt  said,  with 
a  smile.  "  You  paid  in  advance.  It  was  a  bargain, 
wasn't  it,  that  I  should  do  your  business  if  you 
would  help  me  in  mine  ?  Very  well ;  a  bargain's  a 
bargain,  and  we've  both  performed  our  parts.  And 
you  mustn't  be  offended  at  what  I  said  just  now." 

"That  I  won't!  But  as  to  that  Raggy  Steg- 
gles,  once  those  heats  are  over  to-morrow,  I'll — 
well !" 

It  was  on  the  following  Sunday  week  that  Martin 
Hewitt,  in  his  rooms  in  London,  turned  over  his 


68 

paper  and  read,  under  the  head  "Padfield  Annual 
135  Yards  Handicap,"  this  announcement :  "  Final 
heat :  Crockett,  first ;  Willis,  second  ;  Trewby, 
third ;  Owen,  0 ;  Howell,  0.  A  runaway  win  by 
nearly  three  yards." 


III.    THE  CASE  OF  MR.  FOGGATT 

Almost  the  only  dogmatism  that  Martin  Hewitt 
permitted  himself  in  regard  to  his  professional 
methods  was  one  on  the  matter  of  accumulative 
probabilities.  Often  when  I  have  remarked  upon 
the  apparently  trivial  nature  of  the  clues  by  which 
he  allowed  himself  to  be  guided, — sometimes,  to  all 
seeming,  in  the  very  face  of  all  likelihood, — he  has 
replied  that  two  trivialities,  pointing  in  the  same 
direction,  became  at  once,  by  their  mere  agree- 
ment, no  trivialities  at  all,  but  enormously  impor- 
tant considerations.  "If  I  were  in  search  of  a 
man,"  he  would  say,  "of  whom  I  knew  nothing 
but  that  he  squinted,  bore  a  birthmark  on  his  right 
hand,  and  limped,  and  I  observed  a  man  who 
answered  to  the  first  peculiarity,  so  far  the  clue 
would  be  trivial,  because  thousands  of  men  squint. 
Now,  if  that  man  presently  moved  and  exhibited 
a  birthmark  on  his  right  hand,  the  value  of  that 
squint  and  that  mark  would  increase  at  once  a 
hundred  or  a  thousand  fold.  Apart  they  are  little ; 
together  much.  The  weight  of  evidence  is  not 
doubled  merely ;  it  would  be  only  doubled  if  half 
the  men  who  squinted  had  right-hand  birthmarks  ; 
whereas  the  proportion,  if  it  could  be  ascertained, 
would  be,  perhaps,  more  like  one  in  ten  thousand. 
The  two  trivialities,  pointing  in  the  same  direction, 
become  very  strong  evidence.    And,  when  the  man 


10  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

is  seen  to  walk  with  a  limp,  that  limp  (another 
triviality),  re-enforcing  the  others,  brings  the  matter 
to  the  rank  of  a  practical  certainty.  The  Bertillon 
system  of  identification — what  is  it  bnt  a  summary 
of  trivialities  ?  Thousands  of  men  are  of  the  same 
height,  thousands  of  the  same  length  of  foot,  thou- 
sands of  the  same  girth  of  head — thousands  cor- 
respond in  any  separate  measurement  you  may 
name.  It  is  when  the  measurements  are  taken 
together  that  you  have  your  man  identified  for- 
ever. Just  consider  how  few,  if  any,  of  your 
friends  correspond  exactly  in  any  two  personal 
peculiarities.' '  Hewitt's  dogma  received  its  illus- 
tration unexpectedly  close  at  home. 

The  old  house  wherein  my  chambers  and  Hewitt's 
office  were  situated  contained,  beside  my  own,  two 
or  three  more  bachelors'  dens,  in  addition  to  the 
offices  on  the  ground  and  first  and  second  floors.  At 
the  very  top  of  all,  at  the  back,  a  fat,  middle-aged 
man,  named  Foggatt,  occupied  a  set  of  four  rooms. 
It  was  only  after  a  long  residence,  by  an  accidental 
remark  of  the  housekeeper's,  that  I  learned  the 
man's  name,  which  was  not  painted  on  his  door  or 
displayed,  with  all  the  others,  on  the  wall  of  the 
ground-floor  porch. 

Mr.  Foggatt  appeared  to  have  few  friends,  but 
lived  in  something  as  nearly  approaching  luxury  as 
an  old  bachelor  in  chambers  can  live.  An  ascend- 
ing case  of  champagne  was  a  common  phenomenon 
of  the  staircase,  and  I  have  more  than  once  seen  a 
picture,  destined  for  the  top  floor,  of  a  sort  that 
went  far  to  awaken  green  covetousness  in  the  heart 
of  a  poor  journalist 


THE  CASE  OF  MR.  FOGGATT  11 

The  man  himself  was  not  altogether  prepossess- 
ing. Fat  as  he  was,  he  had  a  way  of  carrying  his 
head  forward  on  his  extended  neck  and  gazing 
widely  about  with  a  pair  of  the  roundest  and  most 
prominent  eyes  I  remember  to  have  ever  seen, 
except  in  a  fish.  On  the  whole,  his  appearance 
was  rather  vulgar,  rather  arrogant,  and  rather 
suspicious,  without  any  very  pronounced  quality 
of  any  sort.  But  certainly  he  was  not  pretty.  In 
the  end,  however,  he  was  found  shot  dead  in  his 
sitting-room. 

It  was  in  this  way :  Hewitt  and  I  had  dined 
together  at  my  club,  and  late  in  the  evening  had 
returned  to  my  rooms  to  smoke  and  discuss  what- 
ever came  uppermost.  I  had  made  a  bargain  that 
day  with  two  speculative  odd  lots  at  a  book  sale, 
each  of  which  contained  a  hidden  prize.  We  sat 
talking  and  turning  over  these  books  while  time 
went  unperceived,  when  suddenly  we  were  startled 
by  a  loud  report.  Clearly  it  was  in  the  building. 
We  listened  for  a  moment,  but  heard  nothing  else, 
and  then  Hewitt  expressed  his  opinion  that  the 
report  was  that  of  a  gunshot.  Gunshots  in  resi- 
dential chambers  are  not  common  things,  wherefore 
I  got  up  and  went  to  the  landing,  looking  up  the 
stairs  and  down. 

At  the  top  of  the  next  flight  I  saw  Mrs.  Clayton, 
the  housekeeper.  She  appeared  to  be  frightened, 
and  told  me  that  the  report  came  from  Mr.  Fog- 
gatt's  room.  She  thought  he  might  have  had  an 
accident  with  the  pistol  that  usually  lay  on  his 
mantel-piece.  We  went  upstairs  with  her,  and  she 
knocked  at  Mr.  Foggatt's  door. 


72  MARTIN  HEWITT,   INVESTIGATOR 

There  was  no  reply.  Through  the  ventilating 
fanlight  over  the  door  it  could  be  seen  that  there 
were  lights  within,  a  sign,  Mrs.  Clayton  maintained, 
that  Mr.  Foggatt  was  not  out.  We  knocked  again, 
much  more  loudly,  and  called,  but  still  ineffectually. 
The  door  was  locked,  and  an  application  of  the 
housekeeper's  key  proved  that  the  tenant's  key 
had  been  left  in  the  lock  inside.  Mrs.  Clayton's 
conviction  that  "  something  had  happened  "  became 
distressing,  and  in  the  end  Hewitt  prized  open  the 
door  with  a  small  poker. 

Something  had  happened.  In  the  sitting-room 
Mr.  Foggatt  sat  with  his  head  bowed  over  the  table, 
quiet  and  still.  The  head  was  ill  to  look  at,  and  by 
it  lay  a  large  revolver,  of  the  full-sized  army  pat- 
tern. Mrs.  Clayton  ran  back  toward  the  landing 
with  faint  screams. 

"Kun,  Brett!"  said  Hewitt;  "a  doctor  and  a 
policeman ! " 

I  bounced  down  the  stairs  half  a  flight  at  a  time. 
"  First,"  I  thought,  "a  doctor.  He  may  not  be 
dead."  I  could  think  of  no  doctor  in  the  imme- 
diate neighborhood,  but  ran  up  the  street  away 
from  the  Strand,  as  being  the  more  likely  direction 
for  the  doctor,  although  less  so  for  the  policeman. 
It  took  me  a  good  five  minutes  to  find  the  medico, 
after  being  led  astray  by  a  red  lamp  at  a  private 
hotel,  and  another  five  to  get  back,  with  a  police- 
man. 

Foggatt  was  dead,  without  a  doubt.  Probably 
had  shot  himself,  the  doctor  thought,  from  the 
powder-blackening  and  other  circumstances.  Cer- 
tainly nobody  could  have  left  the  room  by  the 


THE  CASE   OF  MR.  FOGGATT  73 

door,  or  lie  must  have  passed  my  landing,  while  the 
fact  of  the  door  being  found  locked  from  the  inside 
made  the  thing  impossible.  There  were  two  win- 
dows to  the  room,  both  of  which  were  shut,  one 
being  fastened  by  the  catch,  while  the  catch  of  the 
other  was  broken — an  old  fracture.  Below  these 
windows  was  a  sheer  drop  of  fifty  feet  or  more, 
without  a  foot-  or  hand-hold  near.  The  windows 
in  the  other  rooms  were  shut  and  fastened.  Cer- 
tainly it  seemed  suicide — unless  it  were  one  of 
those  accidents  that  will  occur  to  people  who  fiddle 
ignorantly  with  firearms.  Soon  the  rooms  were  in 
possession  of  the  police,  and  we  were  turned  out. 

We  looked  in  at  the  housekeeper's  kitchen, 
where  her  daughter  was  reviving  and  calming 
Mrs.  Clayton  with  gin  and  water. 

"You  mustn't  upset  yourself,  Mrs.  Clayton," 
Hewitt  said,  "or  what  will  become  of  us  all? 
The  doctor  thinks  it  was  an  accident." 

He  took  a  small  bottle  of  sewing-machine  oil 
from  his  pocket  and  handed  it  to  the  daughter, 
thanking  her  for  the  loan. 

There  was  little  evidence  at  the  inquest.  The 
shot  had  been  heard,  the  body  had  been  found — 
that  was  the  practical  sum  of  the  matter.  No 
friends  or  relatives  of  the  dead  man  came  forward. 
The  doctor  gave  his  opinion  as  to  the  probability 
of  suicide  or  an  accident,  and  the  police  evidence 
tended  in  the  same  direction.  Nothing  had  been 
found  to  indicate  that  any  other  person  had  been 
near  the  dead  man's  rooms  on  the  night  of  the 
fatality.    On  the  other  hand,   his  papers,  bank- 


74  MAETIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

book,  etc.,  proved  him  to  be  a  man  of  considerable 
substance,  with  no  apparent  motive  for  suicide. 
The  police  had  been  unable  to  trace  any  relatives, 
or,  indeed,  any  nearer  connections  than  casual 
acquaintances,  fellow-clubmen,  and  so  on.  The 
jury  found  that  Mr.  Foggatt  had  died  by  accident. 

"  Well,  Brett,"  Hewitt  asked  me  afterward, 
"  what  do  you  think  of  the  verdict  ? " 

I  said  that  it  seemed  to  be  the  most  reasonable 
one  possible,  and  to  square  with  the  common-sense 
view  of  the  case. 

"Yes,"  he  replied,  "perhaps  it  does.  From  the 
point  of  view  of  the  jury,  and  on  their  informa- 
tion, their  verdict  was  quite  reasonable.  Never- 
theless, Mr.  Foggatt  did  not  shoot  himself.  He 
was  shot  by  a  rather  tall,  active  young  man,  per- 
haps a  sailor,  but  certainly  a  gymnast — a  young 
man  whom  I  think  I  could  identify  if  I  saw  him." 

"  But  how  do  you  know  this  I " 

"By  the  simplest  possible  inferences,  which  you 
may  easily  guess,  if  you  will  but  think." 

"But,  then,  why  didn't  you  say  this  at  the 
inquest?" 

"  My  dear  fellow,  they  don't  want  my  inferences 
and  conjectures  at  an  inquest ;  they  only  want  evi- 
dence. If  I  had  traced  the  murderer,  of  course 
then  I  should  have  communicated  with  the  police. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  quite  possible  that  the 
police  have  observed  and  know  as  much  as  I  do 
— or  more.  They  don't  give  every  thing  away  at 
an  inquest,  you  know.     It  wouldn't  do." 

"  But,  if  you  are  right,  how  did  the  man  get 
away  ? " 


THE  CASE  OF  MR.  FOGGATT  15 

"Come,  we  are  near  home  now.  Let  us  take 
a  look  at  the  back  of  the  house.  He  couldn't  have 
left  by  Foggatt's  landing  door,  as  we  know  ;  and 
as  he  was  there  (I  am  certain  of  that),  and  as  the 
chimney  is  out  of  the  question, — for  there  was 
a  good  fire  in  the  grate, — he  must  have  gone  out  by 
the  window.  Only  one  window  is  possible — that 
with  the  broken  catch — for  all  the  others  were 
fastened  inside.  Out  of  that  window,  then,  he 
went." 

"  But  how  ?  The  window  is  fifty  feet  up." 
"Of  course  it  is.  But  why  will  you  persist  in 
assuming  that  the  only  way  of  escape  by  a  window 
is  downward?  See,  now,  look  up  there.  The 
window  is  at  the  top  floor,  and  it  has  a  very  broad 
sill.  Over  the  window  is  nothing  but  the  flat  face 
of  the  gable-end ;  but  to  the  right,  and  a  foot  or 
two  above  the  level  of  the  top  of  the  window,  an 
iron  gutter  ends.  Observe,  it  is  not  of  lead  com- 
position, but  a  strong  iron  gutter,  supported,  just 
at  its  end,  by  an  iron  bracket.  If  a  tall  man  stood 
on  the  end  of  the  window-sill,  steadying  himself  by 
the  left  hand  and  leaning  to  the  right,  he  could 
just  touch  the  end  of  this  gutter  with  his  right 
hand.  The  full  stretch,  toe  to  finger,  is  seven  feet 
three  inches.  I  have  measured  it.  An  active  gym- 
nast, or  a  sailor,  could  catch  the  gutter  with  a  slight 
spring,  and  by  it  draw  himself  upon  the  roof.  You 
will  say  he  would  have  to  be  very  active,  dexterous, 
and  cool.  So  he  would.  And  that  very  fact  helps 
us,  because  it  narrows  the  field  of  enquiry.  We 
know  the  sort  of  man  to  look  for.  Because,  being 
certain  (as  I  am)  that  the  man  was  in  the  room,  I 


Tcnow  that  he  left  in  the  way  I  am  telling  you. 
He  must  have  left  in  some  way,  and,  all  the  other 
ways  being  impossible,  this  alone  remains,  difficult 
as  the  feat  may  seem.  The  fact  of  his  shutting  the 
window  behind  him  further  proves  his  coolness  and 
address  at  so  great  a  height  from  the  ground.' \ 

All  this  was  very  plain,  but  the  main  point  was 
still  dark. 

"  You  say  you  know  that  another  man  was  in  the 
room,"  I  said  ;  "  how  do  you  know  that  ?'" 

"  As  I  said,  by  an  obvious  inference.  Come,  now, 
you  shall  guess  how  I  arrived  at  that  inference. 
You  often  speak  of  your  interest  in  my  work,  and 
the  attention  with  which  you  follow  it.  This  shall 
be  a  simple  exercise  for  you.  You  saw  every  thing 
in  the  room  as  plainly  as  I  myself.  Bring  the  scene 
back  to  your  memory,  and  think  over  the  various 
small  objects  littering  about,  and  how  they  would 
affect  the  case.  Quick  observation  is  the  first  es- 
sential for  my  work.  Did  you  see  a  newspaper,  for 
instance?" 

' '  Yes.  There  was  an  evening  paper  on  the  floor, 
but  I  didn't  examine  it." 

"  Any  thing  else?" 

"  On  the  table  there  was  a  whiskey  decanter, 
taken  from  the  tantalus-stand  on  the  sideboard,  and 
one  glass.  That,  by-the-bye,"  I  added,  "  looked  as 
though  only  one  person  were  present." 

"So  it  did,  perhaps,  although  the  inference 
wouldn't  be  very  strong.     Go  on  !  " 

"  There  was  a  fruit-stand  on  the  sideboard,  with  a 
plate  beside  it,  containing  a  few  nutshells,  a  piece 
of  apple,  a  pair  of  nut-crackers,  and,  I  think,  some 


THE  CASE  OF  MR.  FOGGATT  11 

orange  peel.  There  was,  of  course,  all  the  ordinary 
furniture,  but  no  chair  pulled  up  to  the  table  except 
that  used  by  Foggatt  himself.  That's  all  I  noticed, 
I  think.  Stay — there  was  an  ash-tray  on  the  table, 
and  a  partly  burned  cigar  near  it — only  one  cigar, 
though." 

"  Excellent — excellent,  indeed,  as  far  as  memory 
and  simple  observation  go.  You  saw  every  thing 
plainly,  and  you  remember  every  thing.  Surely 
now  you  know  how  I  found  out  that  another  man 
had  just  left?" 

"No,  I  don't ;  unless  there  were  different  kinds 
of  ash  in  the  ash-tray." 

"  That  is  a  fairly  good  suggestion,  but  there  were 
not — there  was  only  a  single  ash,  corresponding  in 
every  way  to  that  on  the  cigar.  Don' t  you  remem- 
ber every  thing  that  I  did  as  we  went  downstairs  I " 

"You  returned  a  bottle  of  oil  to  the  house- 
keeper's daughter,  I  think." 

"I  did.  Doesn't  that  give  you  a  hint?  Come, 
you  surely  have  it  now  ?" 

"I  haven't." 

"Then  I  sha'n't  tell  you  ;  you  don't  deserve  it. 
Think,  and  don't  mention  the  subject  again  till  you 
have  at  least  one  guess  to  make.  The  thing  stares 
you  in  the  face  ;  you  see  it,  you  remember  it,  and 
yet  you  wonH  see  it.  I  won't  encourage  your 
slovenliness  of  thought,  my  boy,  by  telling  you 
what  you  can  know  for  yourself  if  you  like.  Good- 
by — I'm  off  now.  There's  a  case  in  hand  I  can't 
neglect." 

"Don't  you  propose  to  go  further  into  this, 
then?" 


IB  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

Hewitt  shrugged  his  shoulders.  "I'm  not  a 
policeman,"  he  said.  "The  case  is  in  very  good 
hands.  Of  course,  if  any  body  comes  to  me  to  do  it 
as  a  matter  of  business,  I'll  take  it  up.  It's  very 
interesting,  but  I  can't  neglect  my  regular  work  for 
it.  Naturally,  I  shall  keep  my  eyes  open  and  my 
memory  in  order.  Sometimes  these  things  come 
into  the  hands  by  themselves,  as  it  were ;  in  that 
case,  of  course,  I  am  a  loyal  citizen,  and  ready  to 
help  the  law.    Au  revoir  !  " 

I  am  a  busy  man  myself,  and  thought  little  more 
of  Hewitt's  conundrum  for  some  time ;  indeed, 
when  I  did  think,  I  saw  no  way  to  the  answer.  A 
week  after  the  inquest  I  took  a  holiday  (I  had 
written  my  nightly  leaders  regularly  every  day 
for  the  past  five  years),  and  saw  no  more  of  Hewitt 
for  six  weeks.  After  my  return,  with  still  a 
few  days  of  leave  to  run,  one  evening  we  together 
turned  into  Luzatti's,  off  Coventry  Street,  for 
dinner. 

"I  have  been  here  several  times  lately,"  Hewitt 
said;  "they  feed  you  very  well.  No,  not  that 
table," — he  seized  my  arm  as  I  turned  to  an  unoc- 
cupied corner,— "I  fancy  it's  draughty."  He  led 
the  way  to  a  longer  table  where  a  dark,  lithe,  and 
(as  well  as  could  be  seen)  tall  young  man  already 
sat,  and  took  chairs  opposite  him. 

We  had  scarcely  seated  ourselves  before  Hewitt 
broke  into  a  torrent  of  conversation  on  the  subject 
of  bicycling.  As  our  previous  conversation  had 
been  of  a  literary  sort,  and  as  I  had  never  known 
Hewitt  at  any  other  time  to  show  the  slightest  in- 


THE  CASE  OF  MR.  FOGGATT  19 

terest  in  bicycling,  this  rather  surprised  me.  I  had, 
however,  such  a  general  outsider's  grasp  of  the  sub- 
ject as  is  usual  in  a  journalist-of-all-work,  and  man- 
aged to  keep  the  talk  going  from  my  side.  As  we 
went  on  I  could  see  the  face  of  the  young  man  op- 
posite brighten  with  interest.  He  was  a  rather  fine- 
looking  fellow,  with  a  dark  though  very  clear  skin, 
but  had  a  hard,  angry  look  of  eye,  a  prominence  of 
cheek-bone,  and  a  squareness  of  jaw  that  gave  him 
a  rather  uninviting  aspect.  As  Hewitt  rattled  on, 
however,  our  neighbor's  expression  became  one  of 
pleasant  interest  merely. 

"Of  course,"  Hewitt  said,  "we've  a  number  of 
very  capital  men  just  now,  but  I  believe  a  deal  in 
the  forgotten  riders  of  five,  ten,  and  fifteen  years 
back.  Osmond,  I  believe,  was  better  than  any  man 
riding  now,  and  I  think  it  would  puzzle  some  of 
them  to  beat  Furnivall  as  he  was  at  his  best%  But 
poor  old  Cortis — really,  I  believe  he  was  as  good  as 
any  body.  Nobody  ever  beat  Cortis — except — let 
me  see — I  think  somebody  beat  Cortis  once — Who 
was  it,  now?    I  can't  remember." 

"Liles,"  said  the  young  man  opposite,  looking 
up  quickly. 

"  Ah,  yes — Liles  it  was  ;  Charley  Liles.  Wasn't 
it  a  championship  ? " 

"Mile  championship,  1880 ;  Cortis  won  the  other 
three,  though." 

' '  Yes,  so  he  did.  I  saw  Cortis  when  he  first  broke 
the  old  2.46  mile  record."  And  straightway  Hewitt 
plunged  into  a  whirl  of  talk  of  bicycles,  tricycles, 
records,  racing  cyclists,  Hillier  and  Synyer  and 
Noel    Whiting,    Taylerson   and    Appleyard— talk 


80  MARTIN  HEWITi1,  INVESTIGATOR 

wherein  the  young  man  opposite  bore  an  animated 
share,  while  I  was  left  in  the  cold. 

Our  new  friend,  it  seemed,  had  himself  been  a 
prominent  racing  bicyclist  a  few  years  back,  and 
was  presently,  at  Hewitt's  request,  exhibiting  a 
neat  gold  medal  that  hung  at  his  watch-guard. 
That  was  won,  he  explained,  in  the  old  tall  bicycle 
days,  the  days  of  bad  tracks,  when  every  racing 
cyclist  carried  cinder  scars  on  his  face  from  numer- 
ous accidents.  He  pointed  to  a  blue  mark  on  his 
forehead,  which,  he  told  us,  was  a  track  scar,  and 
described  a  bad  fall  that  had  cost  him  two  teeth, 
and  broken  others.  The  gaps  among  his  teeth  were 
plain  to  see  as  he  smiled. 

Presently  the  waiter  brought  dessert,  and  the 
young  man  opposite  took  an  apple.  Nut-crackers 
and  a  fruit-knife  lay  on  our  side  of  the  stand,  and 
Hewitt  turned  the  stand  to  offer  him  the  knife. 

uNo,  thanks,"  he  said;  "I  only  polish  a  good 
apple,  never  peel  it.  It's  a  mistake,  except  with 
thick-skinned  foreign  ones." 

And  he  began  to  munch  the  apple  as  only  a  boy 
or  a  healthy  athlete  can.  Presently  he  turned  his 
head  to  order  coffee.  The  waiter's  back  was  turned, 
and  he  had  to  be  called  twice.  To  my  unutterable 
amazement  Hewitt  reached  swiftly  across  the  table, 
snatched  the  half -eaten  apple  from  the  young  man's 
plate  and  pocketed  it,  gazing  immediately,  with  an 
abstracted  air,  at  a  painted  Cupid  on  the  ceiling. 

Our  neighbor  turned  again,  looked  doubtfully  at 
his  plate  and  the  table-cloth  about  it,  and  then  shot 
a  keen  glance  in  the  direction  of  Hewitt.  He  said 
nothing,  however,  but  took  his  coffee  and  his  bill, 


THE  CASE  OF  MR.  FOGGATT  81 

deliberately  drank  the  former,  gazing  quietly  at 
Hewitt  as  he  did  it,  paid  the  latter,  and  left. 

Immediately  Hewitt  was  on  his  feet  and,  taking 
an  umbrella  which  stood  near,  followed.  Just  as 
he  reached  the  door  he  met  our  late  neighbor,  who 
had  turned  suddenly  back. 

"  Your  umbrella,  I  think  I"  Hewitt  asked,  offer- 
ing it. 

"Yes,  thanks."  But  the  man's  eye  had  more 
than  its  former  hardness,  and  his  jaw  muscles 
tightened  as  I  looked.  He  turned  and  went.  Hew- 
itt came  back  to  me.  "Pay  the  bill,"  he  said, 
"and  go  back  to  your  rooms  ;  I  will  come  on  later. 
I  must  follow  this  man — it' s  the  Foggatt  case. ' '  As 
he  went  out  I  heard  a  cab  rattle  away,  and  immedi- 
ately after  it  another. 

I  paid  the  bill  and  went  home.  It  was  ten 
o'clock  before  Hewitt  turned  up,  calling  in  at  his 
office  below  on  his  way  up  to  me. 

"Mr.  Sidney  Mason,"  he  said,  "is  the  gentle- 
man the  police  will  be  wanting  to-morrow,  I  expect, 
for  the  Foggatt  murder.  He  is  as  smart  a  man  as  I 
remember  ever  meeting,  and  has  done  me  rather 
neatly  twice  this  evening." 

"  You  mean  the  man  we  sat  opposite  at  Luzatti's, 
of  course?" 

"Yes,  I  got  his  name,  of  course,  from  the  reverse 
of  that  gold  medal  he  was  good  enough  to  show 
me.  But  I  fear  he  has  bilked  me  over  the  address. 
He  suspected  me,  that  was  plain,  and  left  his 
umbrella  by  way  of  experiment  to  see  if  I  were 
watching  him  sharply  enough  to  notice  the  circum- 
stance, and  to  avail  myself  of  it  to  follow  him.     I 


82  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

was  hasty  and  fell  into  the  trap.  He  cabbed  it 
away  from  Luzatti's,  and  I  cabbed  it  after  him. 
He  has  led  me  a  pretty  dance  up  and  down  London 
to-nigh-t,  and  two  cabbies  have  made  quite  a  stroke 
of  business  out  of  us.  In  the  end  he  entered  a 
house  of  which,  of  course,  I  have  taken  the 
address,  but  I  expect  he  doesn't  live  there.  He  is 
too  smart  a  man  to  lead  me  to  his  den ;  but  the 
police  can  certainly  find  something  of  him  at  the 
house  he  went  in  at — and,  I  expect,  left  by  the 
back  way.  By-the-way,  you  never  guessed  that 
simple  little  puzzle  as  to  how  I  found  that  this  was 
a  murder,  did  you  9     You  see  it  now,  of  course  ? " 

"  Something  to  do  with  that  apple  you  stole,  I 
suppose?" 

"  Something  to  do  with  it  ?  I  should  think  so, 
you  worthy  innocent.  Just  ring  your  bell ;  we'll 
borrow  Mrs.  Clayton's  sewing-machine  oil  again. 
On  the  night  we  broke  into  Foggatt's  room  you 
saw  the  nutshells  and  the  bitten  remains  of  an 
apple  on  the  sideboard,  and  you  remembered  it ; 
and  yet  you  couldn't  see  that  in  that  piece  of  apple 
possibly  lay  an  important  piece  of  evidence.  Of 
course  I  never  expected  you  to  have  arrived  at  any 
conclusion,  as  I  had,  because  I  had  ten  minutes  in 
which  to  examine  that  apple,  and  to  do  what  I  did 
with  it.  But,  at  least,  you  should  have  seen  the 
possibility  of  evidence  in  it. 

"  First,  now,  the  apple  was  white.  A  bitten 
apple,  as  you  must  have  observed,  turns  of  a  red- 
dish brown  color  if  left  to  stand  long.  Different 
kinds  of  apples  brown  with  different  rapidities,  and 
the  browning  always  begins  at  the  core.    This  is 


THE  CASE  OF  MR.  FOGGATT  83 

one  of  the  twenty  thousand  tiny  things  that  few 
people  take  the  trouble  to  notice,  but  which  it  is 
useful  for  a  man  in  my  position  to  know.  A  russet 
will  brown  quite  quickly.  The  apple  on  the  side- 
board was,  as  near  as  I  could  tell,  a  Newtown 
pippin  or  other  apple  of  that  kind,  which  will 
brown  at  the  core  in  from  twenty  minutes  to  half- 
an-hour,  and  in  other  parts  in  a  quarter  of  an  hour 
more.  When  we  saw  it,  it  was  white,  with  barely 
a  tinge  of  brown  about  the  exposed  core.  Infer- 
ence :  somebody  had  been  eating  it  fifteen  or  twenty 
minutes  before,  perhaps  a  little  longer — an  infer- 
ence supported  by  the  fact  that  it  was  only  partly 
eaten. 

"I  examined  that  apple,  and  found  it  bore 
marks  of  very  irregular  teeth.  While  you  were 
gone,  I  oiled  it  over,  and,  rushing  down  to  my 
rooms,  where  I  always  have  a  little  plaster  of  Paris 
handy  for  such  work,  took  a  mould  of  the  part 
where  the  teeth  had  left  the  clearest  marks.  I 
then  returned  the  apple  to  its  place  for  the  police 
to  use  if  they  thought  fit.  Looking  at  my  mould,  it 
was  plain  that  the  person  who  had  bitten  that 
apple  had  lost  two  teeth,  one  at  top  and  one  below, 
not  exactly  opposite,  but  nearly  so.  The  other 
teeth,  although  they  would  appear  to  have  been 
fairly  sound,  were  irregular  in  size  and  line.  Now, 
the  dead  man  had,  as  I  saw,  a  very  excellent  set  of 
false  teeth,  regular  and  sharp,  with  none  missing. 
Therefore  it  was  plain  that  somebody  else  had  been 
eating  that  apple.     Do  I  make  myself  clear  ? " 

"Quite!     Goon!" 

"  There  were    other   inferences    to   be   made — 


84  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

slighter,  but  all  pointing  the  same  way.  For  in- 
stance, a  man  of  Foggatt's  age  does  not,  as  a  rule, 
munch  an  unpeeled  apple  like  a  school-boy.  Infer- 
ence :  a  young  man,  and  healthy.  Why  I  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  he  was  tall,  active,  a  gymnast, 
and  perhaps  a  sailor,  I  have  already  told  you,  when 
we  examined  the  outside  of  Foggatt's  window.  It 
was  also  pretty  clear  that  robbery  was  not  the 
motive,  since  nothing  was  disturbed,  and  that  a 
friendly  conversation  had  preceded  the  murder — 
witness  the  drinking  and  the  eating  of  the  apple. 
Whether  or  not  the  police  noticed  these  things  I 
can't  say.  If  they  had  had  their  best  men  on,  they 
certainly  would,  I  think ;  but  the  case,  to  a  rough 
observer,  looked  so  clearly  one  of  accident  or 
suicide  that  possibly  they  didn't. 

"As  I  said,  after  the  inquest  I  was  unable  to 
devote  any  immediate  time  to  the  case,  but  I  re- 
solved to  >keep  my  eyes  open.  The  man  to  look  for 
was  tall,  young,  strong,  and  active,  with  a  very 
irregular  set  of  teeth,  a  tooth  missing  from  the 
lower  jaw  just  to  the  left  of  the  centre,  and  another 
from  the  upper  jaw  a  little  further  still  toward  the 
left.  He  might  possibly  be  a  person  I  had  seen 
about  the  premises  (I  have  a  good  memory  for 
faces),  or,  of  course,  he  possibly  might  not. 

"  Just  before  you  returned  from  your  holiday  I 
noticed  a  young  man  at  Luzatti's  whom  I  remem- 
bered to  have  seen  somewhere  about  the  offices  in 
this  building.  He  was  tall,  young,  and  so  on,  but 
I  had  a  client  with  me,  and  was  unable  to  examine 
him  more  narrowly ;  indeed,  as  I  was  not  exactly 
engaged  on  the  case,  and  as  there  are  several  tall 


THE  CASE  OP  MR.   FOGGATT  85 

young  men  about,  I  took  little  trouble.  But  to- 
day, finding  the  same  young  man  with  a  vacant 
seat  opposite  him,  I  took  the  opportunity  of  mak- 
ing a  closer  acquaintance.' ' 

"  You  certainly  managed  to  draw  him  out." 
"Oh,  yes;  the  easiest  person  in  the  world  to 
draw  out  is  a  cyclist.  The  easiest  cyclist  to  draw 
out  is,  of  course,  the  novice,  but  the  next  easiest  is 
the  veteran.  When  you  see  a  healthy,  well-trained- 
looking  man,  who,  nevertheless,  has  a  slight  stoop 
in  the  shoulders,  and,  maybe,  a  medal  on  his  watch- 
guard,  it  is  always  a  safe  card  to  try  him  first  with 
a  little  cycle-racing  talk.  I  soon  brought  Mr. 
Mason  out  of  his  shell,  read  his  name  on  his  medal, 
and  had  a  chance  of  observing  his  teeth — indeed,  he 
spoke  of  them  himself.  Now,  as  I  observed  just 
now,  there  are  several  tall,  athletic  young  men 
about,  and  also  there  are  several  men  who  have  lost 
teeth.  But  now  I  saw  that  this  tall  and  athletic 
young  man  had  lost  exactly  two  teeth — one  from 
the  lower  jaw,  just  to  the  left  of  the  centre,  and 
another  from  the  upper  jaw,  further  still  toward 
the  left !  Trivialities,  pointing  in  the  same  direc- 
tion, became  important  considerations.  More,  his 
teeth  were  irregular  throughout,  and,  as  nearly  as 
I  could  remember  it,  looked  remarkably  like  this 
little  plaster  mould  of  mine." 

He  produced  from  his  pocket  an  irregular  lump 
of  plaster,  about  three  inches  long.  On  one  side  of 
this  appeared  in  relief  the  likeness  of  two  irregular 
rows  of  six  or  eight  teeth,  minus  one  in  each  row, 
where  a  deep  gap  was  seen,  in  the  position  spoken 
of  by  my  friend.     He  proceeded : 


86  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

"This  was  enough  at  least  to  set  me  after  this 
young  man.  But  he  gave  me  the  greatest  chance 
of  all  when  he  turned  and  left  his  apple  (eaten 
unpeeled,  remember ! — another  important  triviality) 
on  his  plate.  I'm  afraid  I  wasn't  at  all  polite,  and 
I  ran  the  risk  of  arousing  his  suspicions,  but  I 
couldn't  resist  the  temptation  to  steal  it.  I  did,  as 
you  saw,  and  here  it  is." 

He  brought  the  apple  from  his  coat-pocket. 
One  bitten  side,  placed  against  the  upper  half  of 
the  mould,  fitted  precisely,  a  projection  of  apple 
filling  exactly  the  deep  gap.  The  other  side  simi- 
larly fitted  the  lower  half. 

u  There's  no  getting  behind  that,  you  see,"  Hew- 
itt remarked.  "Merely  observing  the  man's  teeth 
was  a  guide,  to  some  extent,  but  this  is  as  plain 
as  his  signature  or  his  thumb- impression.  You'll 
never  find  two  men  bite  exactly  alike,  no  matter 
whether  they  leave  distinct  teeth-marks  or  not. 
Here,  by-the-bye,  is  Mrs.  Clayton's  oil.  We'll  take 
another  mould  from  this  apple,  and  compare  them" 

He  oiled  tbe  apple,  heaped  a  little  plaster  in  a 
newspaper,  took  my  water- jug,  and  rapidly  pulled 
off  a  hard  mould.  The  parts  corresponding  to  the 
merely  broken  places  in  the  apple  were,  of  course, 
dissimilar  ;  but  as  to  the  teeth-marks,  the  impres- 
sions were  identical. 

"That  will  do,  I  think,"  Hewitt  said.  "To- 
morrow morning,  Brett,  I  shall  put  up  these  things 
in  a  small  parcel,  and  take  them  round  to  Bow 
Street." 

"  But  are  they  sufficient  evidence  ? " 

"  Quite  sufficient  for  the  police  purpose,    There 


THE  CASE  OF  MR.  FOGGATT  87 

is  the  man,  and  all  the  rest — his  movements  on  the 
day  and  so  forth — are  simple  matters  of  enquiry ; 
at  any  rate,  that  is  police  business." 

I  had  scarcely  sat  down  to  my  breakfast  on  the 
following  morning  when  Hewitt  came  into  the  room 
and  put  a  long  letter  before  me. 

"  From  our  friend  of  last  night,"  he  said  ;  "  read 
it." 

This  letter  began  abruptly,  and  undated,  and  was 
as  follows  : 

"To  Martin  Hewitt,  Esq. 

"  Sir  :  I  must  compliment  you  on  the  adroitness 
you  exhibited  this  evening  in  extracting  from  me 
my  name.  The  address  I  was  able  to  balk  you  of 
for  the  time  being,  although  by  the  time  you  read 
this  you  will  probably  have  found  it  through  the 
Law  List,  as  I  am  an  admitted  solicitor.  That, 
however,  will  be  of  little  use  to  you,  for  I  am  re- 
moving myself,  I  think,  beyond  the  reach  even  of 
your  abilities  of  search.  I  knew  you  well  by  sight, 
and  was,  perhaps,  foolish  to  allow  myself  to  be 
drawn  as  I  did.  Still,  I  had  no  idea  that  it  would 
be  dangerous,  especially  after  seeing  you,  as  a  wit- 
ness with  very  little  to  say,  at  the  inquest  upon  the 
scoundrel  I  shot.  Your  somewhat  discourteous 
seizure  of  my  apple  at  first  amazed  me, — indeed,  I 
was  a  little  doubtful  as  to  whether  you  had  really 
taken  it, — but  it  was  my  first  warning  that  you 
might  be  playing  a  deep  game  against  me,  incom- 
prehensible as  the  action  was  to  my  mind.  I  sub- 
sequently reflected  that  I  had  been  eating  an  apple, 


88  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

instead  of  taking  the  drink  he  first  offered  me,  in 
the  dead  wretch's  rooms  on  the  night  he  came  to 
his  merited  end.  From  this  I  assume  that  your 
design  was  in  some  way  to  compare  what  remained 
of  the  two  apples — although  I  do  not  presume  to 
fathom  the  depths  of  your  detective  system.  Still. 
I  have  heard  of  many  of  your  cases,  and  profoundly 
admire  the  keenness  you  exhibit.  I  am  thought  to 
be  a  keen  man  myself,  but,  although  I  was  able,  to 
some  extent,  to  hold  my  own  to-night,  I  admit  that 
your  acumen  in  this  case  alone  is  something  be- 
yond me. 

"  I  do  not  know  by  whom  you  are  commissioned 
to  hunt  me,  nor  to  what  extent  you  may  be  ac- 
quainted with  my  connection  with  the  creature  I 
killed.  I  have  sufficient  respect  for  you,  however, 
to  wish  that  you  should  not  regard  me  as  a  vicious 
criminal,  and  a  couple  of  hours  to  spare  in  which  to 
offer  you  an  explanation  that  may  persuade  you 
that  such  is  not  altogether  the  case.  A  hasty  and 
violent  temper  I  admit  possessing  ;  but  even  now  I 
cannot  regret  the  one  crime  it  has  led  me  into — for 
it  is,  I  suppose,  strictly  speaking,  a  crime.  For  it 
was  the  man  Foggatt  who  made  a  felon  of  my 
father  before  the  eyes  of  the  world,  and  killed  him 
with  shame.  It  was  he  who  murdered  my  mother, 
and  none  the  less  murdered  her  because  she  died  of 
a  broken  heart.  That  he  was  also  a  thief  and 
a  hypocrite  might  have  concerned  me  little  but 
for  that. 

1 i  Of  my  father  I  remember  very  little.  He  must,  I 
fear,  have  been  a  weak  and  incapable  man  in  many 
respects.    He  had  no  business  abilities — in  fact, 


THE  CASE  OF  ME.  FOGGATT  89 

was  quite  unable  to  understand  the  complicated 
business  matters  in  which  he  largely  dealt.  Fog- 
gatt  was  a  consummate  master  of  all  those  arts  of 
financial  jugglery  that  make  so  many  fortunes,  and 
ruin  so  many  others,  in  matters  of  company  pro- 
moting, stocks  and  shares.  He  was  unable  to  exer- 
cise them,  however,  because  of  a  great  financial  dis- 
aster in  which  he  had  been  mixed  up  a  few  years 
before,  and  which  made  his  name  one  to  be  avoided 
in  future.  In  these  circumstances  he  made  a  sort 
of  secret  and  informal  partnership  with  ,my  father, 
who,  ostensibly  alone  in  the  business,  acted  through- 
out on  the  directions  of  Foggatt,  understanding  as 
little  of  what  he  did,  poor,  simple  man,  as  a  school- 
boy would  have  done.  The  transactions  carried  on 
went  from  small  to  large,  and,  unhappily,  from  hon- 
orable to  dishonorable.  My  father  relied  on  the 
superior  abilities  of  Foggatt  with  an  absolute  trust, 
carrying  out  each  day  the  directions  given  him  pri- 
vately the  previous  evening,  buying,  selling,  print- 
ing prospectuses,  signing  whatever  had  to  be  signed, 
all  with  sole  responsibility  and  as  sole  partner, 
while  Foggatt,  behind  the  scenes,  absorbed  the 
larger  share  of  the  profits.  In  brief,  my  unhappy 
and  foolish  father  was  a  mere  tool  in  the  hands  of 
the  cunning  scoundrel  who  pulled  all  the  wires  of 
the  business,  himself  unseen  and  irresponsible.  At 
last  three  companies,  for  the  promotion  of  which 
my  father  was  responsible,  came  to  grief  in  a  heap. 
Fraud  was  written  large  over  all  their  history,  and, 
while  Foggatt  retired  with  his  plunder,  my  father 
was  left  to  meet  ruin,  disgrace,  and  imprisonment. 
From  beginning  to  end  he,  and  he  only,  was  respon- 


90  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

sible.  There  was  no  shred  of  evidence  to  connect 
Foggatt  with  the  matter,  and  no  means  of  escape 
from  the  net  drawn  abont  my  father.  He  lived 
through  three  years  of  imprisonment,  and  then,  en- 
tirely abandoned  by  the  man  who  had  made  use  of 
his  simplicity,  he  died — of  nothing  but  shame  and 
a  broken  heart. 

"Of  this  I  knew  nothing  at  the  time.  Again  and 
again,  as  a  small  boy,  I  remember  asking  of  my 
mother  why  I  had  no  father  at  home,  as  other  boys 
had — unconscious  of  the  stab  I  thus  inflicted  on  her 
gentle  heart.  Of  her  my  earliest,  as  well  as  my 
latest,  memory  is  that  of  a  pale,  weeping  woman, 
who  grudged  to  let  me  out  of  her  sight. 

"  Little  by  little  I  learned  the  whole  cause  of  my 
mother's  grief,  for  she  had  no  other  confidant,  and 
I  fear  my  character  developed  early,  for  my  first 
coherent  remembrance  of  the  matter  is  that  of  a 
childish  design  to  take  a  table-knife  and  kill  the 
bad  man  who  had  made  my  father  die  in  prison  and 
caused  my  mother  to  cry. 

"  One  thing,  however,  I  never  knew :  the  name  of 
that  bad  man.  Again  and  again,  as  I  grew  older,  I 
demanded  to  know,  but  my  mother  always  with- 
held it  from  me,  with  a  gentle  reminder  that  ven- 
geance was  for  a  greater  hand  than  mine. 

u  I  was  seventeen  years  of  age  when  my  mother 
died.  I  believe  that  nothing  but  her  strong  attach- 
ment to  myself  and  her  desire  to  see  me  safely 
started  in  life  kept  her  alive  so  long.  Then  I  found 
that  through  all  those  years  of  narrowed  means  she 
had  contrived  to  scrape  and  save  a  little  money — 
sufficient,  as  it  afterward  proved,  to  see  me  through 


THE  CASE  OF  MR.  FOGGATT  91 

the  examinations  for  entrance  to  my  profession, 
with  the  generous  assistance  of  my  father's  old  legal 
advisers,  who  gave  me  my  articles,  and  who  have 
all  along  treated  me  with  extreme  kindness. 

"For  most  of  the  succeeding  years  my  life  does 
not  concern  the  matter  in  hand.  I  was  a  lawyer's 
clerk  in  my  benefactors'  service,  and  afterward  a 
qualified  man  among  their  assistants.  All  through 
the  firm  were  careful,  in  pursuance  of  my  poor 
mother's  wishes,  that  I  should  not  learn  the  name 
or  whereabouts  of  the  man  who  had  wrecked  her 
life  and  my  father's.  I  first  met  the  man  himself 
at  the  Clifton  Club,  where  I  had  gone  with  an 
acquaintance  who  was  a  member.  It  was  not  till 
afterward  that  I  understood  his  curious  awkward- 
ness on  that  occasion.  A  week  later  I  called  (as  I 
have  frequently  done)  at  the  building  in  which  your 
office  is  situated  on  business  with  a  solicitor  who 
has  an  office  on  the  floor  above  your  own.  On  the 
stairs  I  almost  ran  against  Mr.  Foggatt.  He  started 
and  turned  pale,  exhibiting  signs  of  alarm  that  I 
could  not  understand,  and  asked  me  if  I  wished  to 
see  him. 

u  '  No,'  I  replied,  *  I  didn't  know  you  lived  here. 
I  am  after  somebody  else  just  now.  Aren't  you 
well  I ' 

"He  looked  at  me  rather  doubtfully,  and  said 
he  was  not  very  well. 

"I  met  him  twice  or  thrice  after  that,  and  on  each 
occasion  his  manner  grew  more  friendly,  in  a  ser- 
vile, flattering,  and  mean  sort  of  way — a  thing  un- 
pleasant enough  in  any  body,  but  doubly  so  in  the 
intercourse  of  a  man  with  another  young  enough 


92 

to  be  his  own  son.  Still,  of  course,  I  treated  the 
man  civilly  enough.  On  one  occasion  he  asked  me 
into  his  rooms  to  look  at  a  rather  fine  picture  he 
had  lately  bought,  and  observed  casually,  lifting  a 
large  revolver  from  the  mantelpiece : 

"  'You  see,  I  am  prepared  for  any  unwelcome 
visitors  to  my  little  den  !  He  !  he  ! '  Conceiving 
him,  of  course,  to  refer  to  burglars,  I  could  not  help 
wondering  at  the  forced  and  hollow  character  of 
his  laugh.  As  we  went  down  the  stairs  he  said :  '  I 
think  we  know  one  another  pretty  well  now,  Mr. 
Mason,  eh  ?  And  if  I  could  do  any  thing  to  advance 
your  professional  prospects,  I  should  be  glad  of  the 
chance,  of  course.  I  understand  the  struggles  of 
a  young  professional  man — he  !  he  ! '  It  was  the 
forced  laugh  again,  and  the  man  spoke  nervously. 
1 1  think,'  he  added,  'that,  if  you  will  drop  in  to- 
morrow evening,  perhaps  I  may  have  a  little  pro- 
posal to  make.     Will  you  ? ' 

"  I  assented,  wondering  what  this  proposal  could 
be.  Perhaps  this  eccentric  old  gentleman  was  a 
good  fellow,  after  all,  anxious  to  do  me  a  good 
turn,  and  his  awkwardness  was  nothing  but  a  nat- 
ural delicacy  in  breaking  the  ice.  I  was  not  so 
flush  of  good  friends  as  to  be  willing  to  lose  one. 
He  might  be  desirous  of  putting  business  in  my 
way. 

"I  went,  and  was  received  with  a  cordiality  that 
even  then  seemed  a  little  over-effusive.  We  sat 
and  talked  of  one  thing  and  another  for  a  long 
while,  and  I  began  to  wonder  when  Mr.  Foggatt 
was  coming  to  the  point  that  most  interested  me. 
Several  times  he  invited  me  to  drink  and  smoke, 


THE  CASE  OF  MR.  FOGGATT  93 

but  long  usage  to  athletic  training  has  given  me  a 
distaste  for  both  practices,  and  I  declined.  At  last 
he  began  to  talk  about  myself.  He  was  afraid  that 
my  professional  prospects  in  this  country  were  not 
great,  but  he  had  heard  that  in  some  of  the  colo- 
nies— South  Africa,  for  example — young  lawyers 
had  brilliant  opportunities. 

"'If  you'd  like  to  go  there,'  he  said,  'I've  no 
doubt,  with  a  little  capital,  a  clever  man  like  you 
could  get  a  grand  practice  together  very  soon.  Or 
you  might  buy  a  share  in  some  good  established 
practice.  I  should  be  glad  to  let  you  have  five 
hundred  pounds,  or  even  a  little  more,  if  that 
wouldn't  satisfy  you,  and ' 

"I  stood  aghast.  Why  should  this  man,  almost 
a  stranger,  offer  me  five  hundred  pounds,  or  even 
more,  'if  that  wouldn't  satisfy '  me?  What  claim 
had  I  on  him?  It  was  very  generous  of  him,  of 
course,  but  out  of  the  question.  I  was,  at  least, 
a  gentleman,  and  had  a  gentleman's  self-respect. 
Meanwhile,  he  had  gone  maundering  on,  in  a  halt- 
ing sort  of  way,  and  presently  let  slip  a  sentence 
that  struck  me  like  a  blow  between  the  eyes. 

"  '  I  shouldn't  like  you  to  bear  ill-will  because  of 
what  has  happened  in  the  past,'  he  said.  '  Your 
late — your  late  lamented  mother — I'm  afraid — she 
had  unworthy  suspicions — I'm  sure — it  was  best  for 
all  parties — your  father  always  appreciated " 

"I  set  back  my  chair  and  stood  erect  before  him. 
This  grovelling  wretch,  forcing  the  words  through 
his  dry  lips,  was  the  thief  who  had  made  another 
of  my  father  and  had  brought  to  miserable  ends 
the  lives  of  both  my  parents !    Every  thing  was 


94  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

clear.  The  creature  went  in  fear  of  me,  never  im- 
agining that  I  did  not  know  him,  and  sought  to 
buy  me  off — to  buy  me  from  the  remembrance  of 
my  dead  mother's  broken  heart  for  five  hundred 
pounds — five  hundred  pounds  that  he  had  made 
my  father  steal  for  him !  I  said  not  a  word. 
But  the  memory  of  all  my  mother's  bitter  years, 
and  a  savage  sense  of  this  crowning  insult  to 
myself,  took  a  hold  upon  me,  and  I  was  a  tiger. 
Even  then  I  verily  believe  that  one  word  of  repent- 
ance, one  tone  of  honest  remorse,  would  have  saved 
him.  But  he  drooped  his  eyes,  snuffled  excuses, 
and  stammered  of  i  unworthy  suspicions '  and  '  no 
ill-will.'  I  let  him  stammer.  Presently  he  looked 
up  and  saw  my  face ;  and  fell  back  in  his  chair, 
sick  with  terror.  I  snatched  the  pistol  from  the 
mantel-piece,  and,  thrusting  it  in  his  face,  shot  him 
where  he  sat. 

"My  subsequent  coolness  and  quietness  surprise 
me  now.  I  took  my  hat  and  stepped  toward  the 
door.  But  there  were  voices  on  the  stairs.  The 
door  was  locked  on  the  inside,  and  I  left  it  so.  I 
went  back  and  quietly  opened  a  window.  Below 
was  a  clear  drop  into  darkness,  and  above  was 
plain  wall ;  but  away  to  one  side,  where  the  slope 
of  the  gable  sprang  from  the  roof,  an  iron  gutter 
ended,  supported  by  a  strong  bracket.  It  was  the 
only  way.  I  got  upon  the  sill  and  carefully  shut 
the  window  behind  me,  for  people  were  already 
knocking  at  the  lobby  door.  From  the  end  of  the 
sill,  holding  on  by  the  reveal  of  the  window  with 
one  hand,  leaning  and  stretching  my  utmost,  I 
caught  the  gutter,  swung  myself  clear,  and  scram- 


THE  CASE  OF  MR.  FOGGATT  95 

bled  on  the  roof.  I  climbed  over  many  roofs  before 
I  found,  in  an  adjoining  street,  a  ladder  lashed  per- 
pendicularly against  the  front  of  a  house  in  course 
of  repair.  This,  to  me,  was  an  easy  opportunity 
of  descent,  notwithstanding  the  boards  fastened 
over  the  face  of  the  ladder,  and  I  availed  myself 
of  it. 

"  I  have  taken  some  time  and  trouble  in  order 
that  you  (so  far  as  I  am  aware  the  only  human 
being  beside  myself  who  knows  me  to  be  the  author 
of  Foggatt's  death)  shall  have  at  least  the  means 
of  appraising  my  crime  at  its  just  value  of  culpa- 
bility. How  much  you  already  know  of  what  I 
have  told  you  I  cannot  guess.  I  am  wrong,  hard- 
ened, and  flagitious,  I  make  no  doubt,  but  I  speak 
of  the  facts  as  they  are.  You  see  the  thing,  of 
course,  from  your  own  point  of  view — I  from  mine. 
And  I  remember  my  mother  ! 

"  Trusting  that  you  will  forgive  the  odd  freak  of 
a  man— a  criminal,  let  us  say — who  makes  a  confi- 
dant of  the  man  set  to  hunt  him  down,  I  beg  leave 
to  be,  sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

"  Sidney  Mason." 

I  read  the  singular  document  through  and  handed 
it  back  to  Hewitt. 

"  How  does  it  strike  you  % "  Hewitt  asked. 

"  Mason  would  seem  to  be  a  man  of  very  marked 
character,"  I  said.  "  Certainly  no  fool.  And,  if 
his  tale  is  true,  Foggatt  is  no  great  loss  to  the 
world." 

"  Just  so — if  the  tale  is  true.  Personally  I  am 
disposed  to  believe  it  is." 


96  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

"  Where  was  the  letter  posted  I " 

"It  wasn't  posted.  It  was  handed  in  with  the 
others  from  the  front-door  letter-box  this  morning 
in  an  unstamped  envelope.  He  mnst  have  dropped 
it  in  himself  during  the  night.  Paper,"  Hewitt 
proceeded,  holding  it  up  to  the  light,  "Turkey 
mill,  ruled  foolscap.  Envelope,  blue,  official  shape, 
Pirie's  watermark.  Both  quite  ordinary  and  no 
special  marks." 

"  Where  do  you  suppose  he's  gone  ? " 

"Impossible  to  guess.  Some  might  think  he 
meant  suicide  by  the  expression  '  beyond  the  reach 
even  of  your  abilities  of  search,'  but  I  scarcely 
think  he  is  the  sort  of  man  to  do  that.  No,  there 
is  no  telling.  Something  may  be  got  by  enquiring 
at  his  late  address,  of  course  ;  but,  when  such  a  man 
tells  you  he  doesn't  think  you  will  find  him,  you 
may  count  upon  its  being  a  difficult  job.  His 
opinion  is  not  to  be  despised." 

"What shall  you  do?" 

"Put  the  letter  in  the  box  with  the  casts  for  the 
police.  Fiat  justitia,  you  know,  without  any 
question  of  sentiment.  As  to  the  apple,  I  really 
think,  if  the  police  will  let  me,  I'll  make  you  a 
present  of  it.  Keep  it  somewhere  as  a  souvenir  of 
your  absolute  deficiency  in  reflective  observation  in 
this  case,  and  look  at  it  whenever  you  feel  yourself 
growing  dangerously  conceited.  It  should  cure 
you." 

This  is  the  history  of  the  withered  and  almost 
petrified  half  apple  that  stands  in  my  cabinet 
among  a  number  of  flint  implements  and  one  or  two 


THE  CASE  OF  MR.  FOGGATT  97 

rather  fine  old  Roman  vessels.  Of  Mr.  Sidney 
Mason  we  never  heard  another  word.  The  police 
did  their  best,  bnt  he  had  left  not  a  track  behind 
him.  His  rooms  were  left  almost  undisturbed,  and 
he  had  gone  without  any  thing  in  the  way  of  elab- 
orate preparation  for  his  journey,  and  without 
leaving  a  trace  of  his  intentions. 


IV.    THE  CASE    OF  THE  DIXON  TORPEDO 

Hewitt  was  very  apt,  in  conversation,  to  dwell 
upon  the  many  curious  chances  and  coincidences 
that  he  had  observed,  not  only  in  connection  with 
his  own  cases,  but  also  in  matters  dealt  with  by  the 
official  police,  with  whom  he  was  on  terms  of  pretty 
regular,  and,  indeed,  friendly,  acquaintanceship. 
He  has  told  me  many  an  anecdote  of  singular  hap- 
penings to  Scotland  Yard  officials  with  whom  he 
has  exchanged  experiences.  Of  Inspector  Net- 
tings, for  instance,  who  spent  many  weary  months 
in  a  search  for  a  man  wanted  by  the  American  Gov- 
ernment, and  in  the  end  found,  by  the  merest  acci- 
dent (a  misdirected  call),  that  the  man  had  been 
lodging  next  door  to  himself  the  whole  of  the 
time ;  just  as  ignorant,  of  course,  as  was  the 
inspector  himself  as  to  the  enemy  at  the  other  side 
of  the  party-wall.  Also  of  another  inspector, 
whose  name  I  cannot  recall,  who,  having  been 
given  rather  meagre  and  insufficient  details  of  a 
man  whom  he  anticipated  having  great  difficulty 
in  finding,  went  straight  down  the  stairs  of  the 
office  where  he  had  received  instructions,  and 
actually  fell  over  the  man  near,  the  door,  where  he 
had  stooped  down  to  tie  his  shoe-lace  !  There  were 
cases,  too,  in  which,  when  a  great  and  notorious 
crime  had  been  committed,  and  various  persons 
had  been  arrested  on  suspicion,  some  were  found 
among  them  who  had  long  been  badly  wanted  for 

98 


THE  CASE  OF  THE  DIXON  TORPEDO  99 

some  other  crime  altogether.  Many  criminals  had 
met  their  deserts  by  venturing  out  of  their  own 
particular  line  of  crime  into  another  ;  often  a  man 
who  got  into  trouble  over  something  comparatively 
small  found  himself  in  for  a  startlingly  larger 
trouble,  the  result  of  some  previous  misdeed  that 
otherwise  would  have  gone  unpunished.  The 
ruble  note-forger  Mirsky  might  never  have  been 
handed  over  to  the  Russian  authorities  had  he  con- 
fined his  genius  to  forgery  alone.  It  was  generally 
supposed  at  the  time  of  his  extradition  that  he  had 
communicated  with  the  Russian  Embassy,  with  a 
view  to  giving  himself  up — a  foolish  proceeding  on 
his  part,  it  would  seem,  since  his  whereabouts, 
indeed,  even  his  identity  as  the  forger,  had  not 
been  suspected.  He  had  communicated  with  the 
Russian  Embassy,  it  is  true,  but  for  quite  a  differ- 
ent purpose,  as  Martin  Hewitt  well  understood  at 
the  time.  What  that  purpose  was  is  now  for  the 
first  time  published. 

The  time  was  half-past  one  in  the  afternoon,  and 
Hewitt  sat  in  his  inner  office  examining  and  com- 
paring the  handwriting  of  two  letters  by  the  aid  of 
a  large  lens.  He  put  down  the  lens  and  glanced  at 
the  clock  on  the  mantel-piece  with  a  premonition  of 
lunch  ;  and  as  he  did  so  his  clerk  quietly  entered  the 
room  with  one  of  those  printed  slips  which  were  kept 
for  the  announcement  of  unknown  visitors.  It  was 
filled  up  in  a  hasty  and  almost  illegible  hand,  thus : 

Name  of  visitor  :  F.  Graham  Dixon. 

Address :  Chancery  Lane. 

Business :  Private  and  urgent. 


100  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

"Show  Mr.  Dixon  in,"  said  Martin  Hewitt. 

Mr.  Dixon  was  a  gaunt,  worn-looking  man  of 
fifty  or  so,  well,  although  rather  carelessly,  dressed, 
and  carrying  in  his  strong,  though  drawn,  face  and 
dullish  eyes  the  look  that  characterizes  the  life-long 
strenuous  brain- worker.  He  leaned  forward  anx- 
iously in  the  chair  which  Hewitt  offered  him,  and 
told  his  story  with  a  great  deal  of  very  natural  agi- 
tation. 

"You  may  possibly  have  heard,  Mr.  Hewitt — I 
know  there  are  rumors — of  the  new  locomotive  tor- 
pedo which  the  government  is  about  adopting ;  it 
is,  in  fact,  the  Dixon  torpedo,  my  own  invention, 
and  in  every  respect — not  merely  in  my  own  opinion, 
but  in  that  of  the  government  experts — by  far  the 
most  efficient  and  certain  yet  produced.  It  will 
travel  at  least  four  hundred  yards  farther  than  any 
torpedo  now  made,  with  perfect  accuracy  of  aim  (a 
very  great  desideratum,  let  me  tell  you),  and  will 
carry  an  unprecedentedly  heavy  charge.  There  are 
other  advantages — speed,  simple  discharge,  and  so 
forth — that  I  needn't  bother  you  about.  The  ma- 
chine is  the  result  of  many  years  of  work  and  dis- 
appointment, and  its  design  has  only  been  arrived 
at  by  a  careful  balancing  of  principles  and  means, 
which  are  expressed  on  the  only  four  existing  sets 
of  drawings.  The  whole  thing,  I  need  hardly  tell 
you,  is  a  profound  secret,  and  you  may  judge  of  my 
present  state  of  mind  when  I  tell  you  that  one  set 
of  drawings  has  been  stolen." 
"From  your  house  ? " 

"From  my  office,  in  Chancery  Lane,  this  morn- 
ing.    The  four  sets  of  drawings  were  distributed 


THE  CASE   OF  THE  DIXON  TORPEDO  101 

thus  :  Two  were  at  the  Admiralty  Office,  one  being 
a  finished  set  on  thick  paper,  and  the  other  a  set  of 
tracings  therefrom  ;  and  the  other  two  were  at  my 
own  office,  one  being  a  pencilled  set,  uncolored, — a 
sort  of  finished  draft,  you  understand,  -—and  the  other 
a  set  of  tracings  similar  to  those  at  the  Admiralty. 
It  is  this  last  set  that  has  gone.  The  two  sets  were 
kept  together  in  one  drawer  in  my  room.  Both 
were  there  at  ten  this  morning ;  of  that  I  am  sure, 
for  I  had  to  go  to  that  very  drawer  for  something 
else  when  I  first  arrived.  But  at  twelve  the  trac- 
ings had  vanished." 

11  You  suspect  somebody,  probably?" 
"  I  cannot.  It  is  a  most  extraordinary  thing. 
Nobody  has  left  the  office  (except  myself,  and  then 
only  to  come  to  you)  since  ten  this  morning,  and 
there  has  been  no  visitor.  And  yet  the  drawings 
are  gone!" 

"  But  have  you  searched  the  place  ? " 
' '  Of  course  I  have  !  It  was  twelve  o'  clock  when  I 
first  discovered  my  loss,  and  I  have  been  turning 
the  place  upside  down  ever  since — I  and  my  assist- 
ants. Every  drawer  has  been  emptied,  every  desk 
and  table  turned  over,  the  very  carpet  and  linoleum 
have  been  taken  up,  but  there  is  not  a  sign  of  the 
drawings.  My  men  even  insisted  on  turning  all 
their  pockets  inside  out,  although  I  never  for  a 
moment  suspected  either  of  them,  and  it  would  take 
a  pretty  big  pocket  to  hold  the  drawings,  doubled 
up  as  small  as  they  might  be." 

"You  say  your  men — there  are  two,  I  under- 
stand— had  neither  left  the  office  I " 

"Neither;  and  they  are  both  staying  in  now. 


102  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

Worsfold  suggested  that  it  would  be  more  satis- 
factory if  they  did  not  leave  till  something  was 
done  toward  clearing  the  mystery  up,  and,  although, 
as  I  have  said,  I  don't  suspect  either  in  the  least, 
I  acquiesced." 

"  Just  so.  Now — I  am  assuming  that  you  wish 
me  to  undertake  the  recovery  of  these  draw- 
ings?" 

The  engineer  nodded  hastily. 

"  Very  good  ;  I  will  go  round  to  your  office.  But 
first  perhaps  you  can  tell  me  something  about  your 
assistants — something  it  might  be  awkward  to  tell 
me  in  their  presence,  you  know.  Mr.  Worsfold, 
for  instance?" 

"He  is  my  draughtsman — a  very  excellent  and 
intelligent  man,  a  very  smart  man,  indeed,  and,  I 
feel  sure,  quite  beyond  suspicion.  He  has  pre- 
pared many  important  drawings  for  me  (he  has 
been  with  me  nearly  ten  years  now),  and  I  have 
always  found  him  trustworthy.  But,  of  course, 
the  temptation  in  this  case  would  be  enormous. 
Still,  I  cannot  suspect  Worsfold.  Indeed,  how 
can  I  suspect  any  body  in  the  circumstances  ? " 

" The  other,  now?" 

"  His  name's  Bitter.  He  is  merely  a  tracer,  not 
a  fully  skilled  draughtsman.  He  is  quite  a  decent 
young  fellow,  and  I  have  had  him  two  years.  I 
don't  consider  him  particularly  smart,  or  he  would 
have  learned  a  little  more  of  his  business  by  this 
time.  But  I  don' t  see  the  least  reason  to  suspect 
him.  As  I  said  before,  I  can't  reasonably  suspect 
anybody." 

"Very  well;    we   will  get  to   Chancery  Lane 


THE  CASE  OF  THE  DIXON  TORPEDO  103 

now,  if  yoii  please,  and  you  can  tell  me  more  as 
we  go." 

"I  have  a  cab  waiting.  What  else  can  I  tell 
you?" 

"  I  understand  the  position  to  be  succinctly  this : 
The  drawings  were  in  the  office  when  you  arrived. 
Nobody  came  out,  and  nobody  went  in  ;  and  yet 
they  vanished.     Is  that  so  ? " 

* '  That  is  so.  When  I  say  that  absolutely  nobody 
came  in,  of  course  I  except  the  postman.  He 
brought  a  couple  of  letters  during  the  morning. 
I  mean  that  absolutely  nobody  came  past  the  bar- 
rier in  the  outer  office — the  usual  thing,  you  know, 
like  a  counter,  with  a  frame  of  ground  glass  over  it." 

"  I  quite  understand  that.  But  I  think  you  said 
that  the  drawings  were  in  a  drawer  in  your  own 
room — not  the  outer  office,  where  the  draughtsmen 
are,  I  presume?" 

"  That  is  the  case.  It  is  an  inner  room,  or,  rather, 
a  room  parallel  with  the  other,  and  communicating 
with  it ;  just  as  your  own  room  is,  which  we  have 
just  left." 

"  But,  then,  you  say  you  never  left  your  office, 
and  yet  the  drawings  vanished — apparently  by 
some  unseen  agency — while  you  were  there  in  the 
room?" 

"Let  me  explain  more  clearly."  The  cab  was 
bowling  smoothly  along  the  Strand,  and  the  en- 
gineer took  out  a  pocket-book  and  pencil.  "I 
fear,"  he  proceeded,  "that  I  am  a  little  confused  in 
my  explanation — I  am  naturally  rather  agitated. 
As  you  will  see  presently,  my  offices  consist  of 
three  rooms,  two  at  one  side  of  a  corridor,  and  the 


104 


MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 


other  opposite :    thus."    He  made  a  rapid  pencil 
sketch. 


&«**£  fl&r*» 


Ctrvu**3a 


"In  the  outer  office  my  men  usually  work.  In 
the  inner  office  I  work  myself.  These  rooms  com- 
municate, as  you  see,  by  a  door.  Our  ordinary 
way  in  and  out  of  the  place  is  by  the  door  of  the 
outer  office  leading  into  the  corridor,  and  we  first 
pass  through  the  usual  lifting  flap  in  the  barrier. 
The  door  leading  from  the  inner  office  to  the  corridor 
is  always  kept  locked  on  the  inside,  and  I  don't 
suppose  I  unlock  it  once  in  three  months.  It  has 
not  been  unlocked  all  the  morning.  The  drawer  in 
which  the  missing  drawings  were  kept,  and  in 
which  I  saw  them  at  ten  o'clock  this  morning,  is  at 


THE  CASE   OF  THE  DIXON    TORPEDO  105 

the  place  marked  D;  it  is  a  large  chest  of  shallow 
drawers  in  which  the  plans  lie  flat.53 

"I  quite  understand.  Then  there  is  the  private 
room  opposite.     What  of  that  ? " 

44  That  is  a  sort  of  private  sitting-room  that  I 
rarely  use,  except  for  business  interviews  of  a  very- 
private  nature.  When  I  said  I  never  left  my  office, 
I  did  not  mean  that  I  never  stirred  out  of  the  inner 
office.  I  was  about  in  one  room  and  another,  both 
the  outer  and  the  inner  offices,  and  once  I  went  into 
the  private  room  for  five  minutes,  but  nobody  came 
either  in  or  out  of  any  of  the  rooms  at  that  time, 
for  the  door  of  the  private  room  was  wide  open, 
and  I  was  standing  at  the  book-case  (I  had  gone  to 
consult  a  book),  just  inside  the  door,  with  a  full 
view  of  the  doors  opposite.  Indeed,  Worsfold  was 
at  the  door  of  the  outer  office  most  of  the  short 
time.     He  came  to  ask  me  a  question." 

"Well,"  Hewitt  replied,  "it  all  comes  to  the 
simple  first  statement.  You  know  that  nobody  left 
the  place  or  arrived,  except  the  postman,  who 
couldn't  get  near  the  drawings,  and  yet  the  draw- 
ings went.     Is  this  your  office  % " 

The  cab  had  stopped  before  a  large  stone  build- 
ing. Mr.  Dixon  alighted  and  led  the  way  to  the 
first  floor.  Hewitt  took  a  casual  glance  round  each 
of  the  three  rooms.  There  was  a  sort  of  door  in 
the  frame  of  ground  glass  over  the  barrier  to  ad- 
mit of  speech  with  visitors.  This  door  Hewitt 
pushed  wide  open,  and  left  so. 

He  and  the  engineer  went  into  the  inner  office. 
"  Would  you  like  to  ask  Worsfold  and  Eitter  any 
questions  ?  "  Mr.  Dixon  enquired. 


106  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

"  Presently.  Those  are  their  coats,  I  take  it, 
hanging  just  to  the  right  of  the  outer  office  door, 
over  the  umbrella-stand  ? " 

"Yes,  those  are  all  their  things — coats,  hats, 
stick,  and  umbrella,," 

"  And  those  coats  were  searched,  you  say  I " 

"Yes." 

"  And  this  is  the  drawer — thoroughly  searched, 
of  course?" 

"  Oh,  certainly;  every  drawer  was  taken  out  and 
turned  over." 

"  Well,  of  course  I  must  assume  you  made  no 
mistake  in  your  hunt.  Now  tell  me,  did  any  body 
know  where  these  plans  were,  beyond  yourself  and 
your  two  men?" 

"  As  far  as  I  can  tell,  not  a  soul." 

"  You  don't  keep  an  office  boy  I " 

"  No,  There  would  be  nothing  for  him  to  do  ex- 
cept to  post  a  letter  now  and  again,  which  Hitter 
does  quite  well  for." 

"  As  you  are  quite  sure  that  the  drawings  were 
there  at  ten  o'clock,  perhaps  the  thing  scarcely 
matters.  But  I  may  as  well  know  if  your  men 
have  keys  of  the  office  ? " 

"  Neither.  I  have  patent  locks  to  each  door  and 
I  keep  all  the  keys  myself.  If  Worsfold  or  Hitter 
arrive  before  me  in  the  morning  they  have  to  wait 
to  be  let  in  ;  and  I  am  always  present  myself  when 
the  rooms  are  cleaned.  I  have  not  neglected  pre- 
cautions, you  see." 

"  No.  I  suppose  the  object  of  the  theft — assum- 
ing it  is  a  theft — is  pretty  plain :  the  thief  would  offer 
the  drawings  for  sale  to  some  foreign  government  ? " 


THE  CASE  OF  THE  DIXON  TORPEDO  107 

"Of  course.  They  would  probably  command  a 
great  sum.  I  have  been  looking,  as  I  need  hardly 
tell  you,  to  that  invention  to  secure  me  a  very  large 
fortune,  and  I  shall  be  ruined  indeed  if  the  design 
is  taken  abroad.  I  am  under  the  strictest  engage- 
ments to  secrecy  with  the  Admiralty,  and  not  only 
should  I  lose  all  my  labor,  but  I  should  lose  all  the 
confidence  reposed  in  me  at  headquarters — should, 
in  fact,  be  subject  to  penalties  for  breach  of  con- 
tract, and  my  career  stopped  forever.  I  cannot  tell 
you  what  a  serious  business  this  is  for  me.  If  you 
cannot  help  me,  the  consequences  will  be  terrible. 
Bad  for  the  service  of  the  country,  too,  of  course." 

"  Of  course.  Now  tell  me  this :  It  would,  I  take 
it,  be  necessary  for  the  thief  to  exhibit  these  draw- 
ings to  any  body  anxious  to  buy  the  secret — I  mean, 
he  couldn't  describe  the  invention  by  word  of 
mouth?" 

"Oh,  no,  that  would  be  impossible.  The  draw- 
ings are  of  the  most  complicated  description,  and 
full  of  figures  upon  which  the  whole  thing  depends. 
Indeed,  one  would  have  to  be  a  skilled  expert  prop- 
erly to  appreciate  the  design  at  all.  Various  prin- 
ciples of  hydrostatics,  chemistry,  electricity,  and 
pneumatics  are  most  delicately  manipulated  and 
adjusted,  and  the  smallest  error  or  omission  in  any 
part  would  upset  the  whole.  No,  the  drawings  are 
necessary  to  the  thing,  and  they  are  gone." 

At  this  moment  the  door  of  the  outer  office  was 
heard  to  open  and  somebody  entered.  The  door  be- 
tween the  two  offices  was  ajar,  and  Hewitt  could 
see  right  through  to  the  glass  door  left  open  over 
the  barrier  and  into  the  space  beyond,    A  well- 


108  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

dressed,  dark,  bushy-bearded  man  stood  there  car- 
rying a  hand-bag,  which  he  placed  on  the  ledge  be- 
fore him.  Hewitt  raised  his  hand  to  enjoin  silence. 
The  man  spoke  in  a  rather  high-pitched  voice  and 
with  a  slight  accent.  ' i  Is  Mr.  Dixon  now  within  ? ' ? 
he  asked. 

"  He  is  engaged,"  answered  one  of  the  draughts- 
men ;  "very  particularly  engaged.  I'm  afraid  you 
won't  be  able  to  see  him  this  afternoon.  Can  I 
give  him  any  message  ?" 

"This  is  two — the  second  time  I  have. come  to- 
day. Not  two  hours  ago  Mr.  Dixon  himself  tells 
me  to  call  again0  I  have  a  very  important — very 
excellent  steam  packing  to  show  him  that  is  very 
cheap  and  the  best  of  the  market,,"  The  man 
tapped  his  bag.  "  I  have  just  taken  orders  from 
the  largest  railway  companies.  Cannot  I  see  him, 
for  one  second  only  ?    I  will  not  detain  him." 

"Really,  I'm  sure  you  can*  t  this  afternoon;  he 
isn't  seeing  any  body0  But  if  you'll  leave  your 
name " 

"  My  name  is  Hunter ;  but  what  the  good  of 
that  ?  He  ask  me  to  call  a  little  later,  and  I  come, 
and  now  he  is  engaged.  It  is  a  very  great  pity." 
And  the  man  snatched  up  his  bag  and  walking- 
stick  and  stalked  off  indignantly. 

Hewitt  stood  still,  gazing  through  the  small  aper- 
ture in  the  door-way. 

"  You'd  scarcely  expect  a  man  with  such  a  name 
as  Hunter  to  talk  with  that  accent,  would  you?" 
he  observed  musingly.  "  It  isn't  a  French  accent, 
nor  a  German ;  but  it  seems  foreign  You  don't 
happen  to  know  him,  I  suppose  ? " 


THE  CASE  OF  THE  DIXON  TORPEDO  109 

"No,  I  don't.  He  called  here  about  half -past 
twelve,  just  while  we  were  in  the  middle  of  our 
search  and  I  was  frantic  over  the  loss  of  the  draw- 
ings. I  was  in  the  outer  office  myself,  and  told 
him  to  call  later.  I  have  lots  of  such  agents  here, 
anxious  to  sell  all  sorts  of  engineering  appliances. 
But  what  will  you  do  now?  Shall  you  see  my 
men?" 

"  I  think,"  said  Hewitt,  rising—"  I  think  I'll  get 
you  to  question  them  yourself." 

"Myself?" 

"  Yes,  I  have  a  reason.  Will  you  trust  me  with 
the  'key'  of  the  private  room  opposite?  I  will  go 
over  there  for  a  little,  while  you  talk  to  your  men 
in  this  room.  Bring  them  in  here  and  shut  the 
door ;  I  can  look  after  the  office  from  across  the 
corridor,  you  know.  Ask  them  each  to  detail  his 
exact  movements  about  the  office  this  morning,  and 
get  them  to  recall  each  visitor  who  has  been  here 
from  the  beginning  of  the  week.  I'll  let  you  know 
the  reason  of  this  later.  Come  across  to  me  in  a 
few  minutes." 

Hewitt  took  the  key  and  passed  through  the 
outer  office  into  the  corridor. 

Ten  minutes  later  Mr.  Dixon,  having  questioned 
his  draughtsmen,  followed  him.  He  found  Hewitt 
standing  before  the  table  in  the  private  room,  on 
which  lay  several  drawings  on  tracing-paper. 

"See  here,  Mr.  Dixon,"  said  Hewitt,  "I  think 
these  are  the  drawings  you  are  anxious  about  ?" 

The  engineer  sprang  toward  them  with  a  cry  of 
delight.  "Why,  yes,  yes,"  he  exclaimed,  turning 
them  over,  u  every  one  of  them  !    But  where— how 


110  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

— they  must  have  been  in  the  place,  after  all,  then  % 
What  a  fool  I  have  been !  " 

Hewitt  shook  his  head.  "I'm  afraid  you're  not 
quite  so  lucky  as  you  think,  Mr.  Dixon,"  he  said. 
"  These  drawings  have  most  certainly  been  out  of 
the  house  for  a  little  while.  Never  mind  how — 
we'll  talk  of  that  after.  There  is  no  time  to  lose. 
Tell  me — how  long  would  it  take  a  good  draughts- 
man to  copy  them  I " 

"They  couldn't  possibly  be  traced  over  properly 
in  less  than  two  or  two  and  a  half  long  days  of  very 
hard  work,"  Dixon  replied  with  eagerness. 

"  Ah !  then,  it  is  as  I  feared.  These  tracings 
have  been  photographed,  Mr.  Dixon,  and  our  task 
is  one  of  every  possible  difficulty.  If  they  had 
been  copied  in  the  ordinary  way,  one  might  hope 
to  get  hold  of  the  copy.  But  photography  upsets 
every  thing.  Copies  can  be  multiplied  with  such 
amazing  facility  that,  once  the  thief  gets  a  decent 
start,  it  is  almost  hopeless  to  checkmate  him.  The 
only  chance  is  to  get  at  the  negatives  before  copies 
are  taken.  I  must  act  at  once  ;  and  I  fear,  between 
ourselves,  it  may  be  necessary  for  me  to  step  very 
distinctly  over  the  line  of  the  law  in  the  matter. 
You  see,  to  get  at  those  negatives  may  involve 
something  very  like  house-breaking.  There  must 
be  no  delay,  no  waiting  for  legal  procedure,  or 
the  mischief  is  done.  Indeed,  I  very  much  ques- 
tion whether  you  have  any  legal  remedy,  strictly 
speaking." 

"Mr.  Hewitt,  I  implore  you,  do  what  you  can. 
I  need  not  say  that  all  I  have  is  at  your  disposal. 
I  will  guarantee  to  hold  you  harmless  for  any  thing 


THE  CASE  OP  THE  DIXON  TOEPEDO  111 

that  may  happen.  But  do,  I  entreat  you,  do  every 
thing  possible.  Think  of  what  the  consequences 
may  be ! " 

"  Well,  yes,  so  I  do,"  Hewitt  remarked,  with  a 
smile.  "  The  consequences  to  me,  if  I  were  charged 
with  house-breaking,  might  be  something  that  no 
amount  of  guarantee  could  mitigate.  However,  I 
will  do  what  I  can,  if  only  from  patriotic  motives. 
Now,  I  must  see  your  tracer,  Bitter.  He  is  the 
traitor  in  the  camp." 

"Hitter*    But  how?" 

"  Never  mind  that  now.  You  are  upset  and  agi- 
tated, and  had  better  not  know  more  than  is  neces- 
sary for  a  little  while,  in  case  you  say  or  do  some- 
thing unguarded.  With  Bitter  I  must  take  a  deep 
course  ;  what  I  don't  know  I  must  appear  to  know, 
and  that  will  seem  more  likely  to  him  if  I  disclaim 
acquaintance  with  what  I  do  know.  But  first  put 
these  tracings  safely  away  out  of  sight." 

Dixon  slipped  them  behind  his  book-case. 

"Now,"  Hewitt  pursued,  "call  Mr.Worsfoldand 
give  him  something  to  do  that  will  keep  him  in  the 
inner  office  across  the  way,  and  tell  him  to  send 
Bitter  here." 

Mr.  Dixon  called  his  chief  draughtsman  and  re- 
quested him  to  put  in  order  the  drawings  in  the 
drawers  of  the  inner  room  that  had  been  disar- 
ranged by  the  search,  and  to  send  Bitter,  as  Hewitt 
had  suggested. 

Bitter  walked  into  the  private  room  with  an  air 
of  respectful  attention.  He  was  a  puffy-faced,  un- 
healthy-looking young  man,  with  very  small  eyes 
and  a  loose,  mobile  mouth. 


112 

"  Sit  down,  Mr.  Bitter,"  Hewitt  said,  in  a  stern 
voice.  "  Your  recent  transactions  with  your  friend 
Mr.  Hunter  are  well  known  both  to  Mr.  Dixon  and 
myself." 

Bitter,  who  had  at  first  leaned  easily  back  in  his 
chair,  started  forward  at  this,  and  paled. 

"You  are  surprised,  I  observe;  but  you  should 
be  more  careful  in  your  movements  out  of  doors  if 
you  do  not  wish  your  acquaintances  to  be  known. 
Mr.  Hunter,  I  believe,  has  the  drawings  which  Mr. 
Dixon  has  lost,  and,  if  so,  I  am  certain  that  you 
have  given  them  to  him.  That,  you  know;  is  theft, 
for  which  the  law  provides  a  severe  penalty." 

Bitter  broke  down  completely  and  turned  appeal- 
ingly  to  MrG  Dixon. 

"  Oh,  sir,"  he  pleaded,  "  it  isn't  so  bad,  I  assure 
you.  I  was  tempted,  I  confess,  and  hid  the  draw- 
ings ;  but  they  are  still  in  the  office,  and  I  can  give 
them  to  you — really,  I  can." 

"Indeed?"  Hewitt  went  on.  "Then,  in  that 
case,  perhaps  you'd  better  get  them  at  once.  Just 
go  and  fetch  them  in  ;  we  won't  trouble  to  observe 
your  hiding-place.  I'll  only  keep  this  door  open, 
to  be  sure  you  don't  lose  your  way,  you  know — 
down  the  stairs,  for  instance." 

The  wretched  Bitter,  with  hanging  head,  slunk 
into  the  office  opposite.  Presently  he  reappeared, 
looking,  if  possible,  ghastlier  than  before.  He 
looked  irresolutely  down  the  corridor,  as  if  medi- 
tating a  run  for  it,  but  Hewitt  stepped  toward  him 
and  motioned  him  back  to  the  private  room. 

"  You  mustn't  try  any  more  of  that  sort  of  hum- 
bug," Hewitt  said  with  increased  severity.     "The 


THE  CASE  OF  THE  DIXON  TOKPEDO  113 

drawings  are  gone,  and  you  have  stolen  them ;  you 
know  that  well  enough.  Now  attend  to  me.  If 
you  received  your  deserts,  Mr.  Dixon  would  send 
for  a  policeman  this  moment,  and  have  you  hauled 
off  to  the  jail  that  is  your  proper  place.  But, 
unfortunately,  your  accomplice,  who  calls  himself 
Hunter, — but  who  has  other  names  besides  that,  as  I 
happen  to  know, — has  the  drawings,  and  it  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  that  these  should  be  recovered.  I 
am  afraid  that  it  will  be  necessary,  therefore,  to 
come  to  some  arrangement  with  this  scoundrel — to 
square  him,  in  fact.  Now,  just  take  that  pen  and 
paper,  and  write  to  your  confederate  as  I  dictate. 
You  know  the  alternative  if  you  cause  any  diffi- 
culty." 

Bitter  reached  tremblingly  for  the  pen. 

"  Address  him  in  your  usual  way,"  Hewitt  pro- 
ceeded. "  Say  this  :  *  There  has  been  an  alteration 
in  the  plans.'  Have  you  got  that?  'There  has 
been  an  alteration  in  the  plans.  I  shall  be  alone 
here  at  six  o'clock.  Please  come,  without  fail.' 
Have  you  got  it  ?  Very  well ;  sign  it,  and  address 
the  envelope.  He  must  come  here,  and  then  we  may 
arrange  matters.  In  the  meantime,  you  will  remain 
in  the  inner  office  opposite." 

The  note  was  written,  and  Martin  Hewitt,  without 
glancing  at  the  address,  thrust  it  into  his  pocket. 
When  Ritter  was  safely  in  the  inner  office,  however, 
he  drew  it  out  and  read  the  address.  "  I  see,"  he 
observed,  "he  uses  the  same  name,  Hunter;  27 
Little  Carton  Street,  Westminster,  is  the  address, 
and  there  I  shall  go  at  once  with  the  note.  If  the 
man  comes  here,  I  think  you  had  better  lock  him 


114  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

in  with  Eitter,  and  send  for  a  policeman— it  may 
at  least  frighten  him.  My  object  is,  of  course,  to 
get  the  man  away,  and  then,  if  possible,  to  invade 
his  house,  in  some  way  or  another,  and  steal  or 
smash  his  negatives  if  they  are  there  and  to  be 
found.  Stay  here,  in  any  case,  till  I  return.  And 
don't  forget  to  lock  up  those  tracings." 

It  was  about  six  o'clock  when  Hewitt  returned, 
alone^ ,  but  with  a  smiling  face  that  told  of  good  for- 
tune at  first  sight. 

"  First,  Mr.  Dixon,"  he  said,  as  he  dropped  into 
an  easy  chair  in  the  private  room,  "let  me  ease 
your  mind  by  the  information  that  I  have  been 
most  extraordinarily  lucky ;  in  fact,  I  think  you 
have  no  further  cause  for  anxiety.  Here  are  the 
negatives.  They  were  not  all  quite  dry  when  I — 
well,  what  % — stole  them,  I  suppose  I  must  say  ;  so 
that  they  have  stuck  together  a  bit,  and  probably 
the  films  are  damaged.  But  you  don't  mind  that,  I 
suppose?" 

He  laid  a  small  parcel,  wrapped  in  newspaper,  on 
the  table.  The  engineer  hastily  tore  away  the  paper 
and  took  up  five  or  six  glass  photographic  negatives, 
of  the  half -plate  size,  which  were  damp,  and  stuck 
together  by  the  gelatine  films  in  couples.  He  held 
them,  one  after  another,  up  to  the  light  of  the  win- 
dow, and  glanced  through  them.  Then,  with  a 
great  sigh  of  relief,  he  placed  them  on  the  hearth 
and  pounded  them  to  dust  and  fragments  with  the 
poker. 

For  a  few  seconds  neither  spokeD  Then  Dixon, 
flinging  himself  into  a  chair,  said  % 


THE  CASE  OF  THE  DIXON  TOKPEDO  115 

"Mr.  Hewitt,  I  can't  express  my  obligation  to 
you.  What  would  have  happened  if  you  had 
failed,  I  prefer  not  to  think  of.  But  what  shall  we 
do  with  Hitter  now  I  The  other  man  hasn't  been 
here  yet,  by-the-bye." 

"  No  ;  the  fact  is  I  didn't  deliver  the  letter.  The 
worthy  gentleman  saved  me  a  world  of  trouble  by 
taking  himself  out  of  the  way."  Hewitt  laughed. 
"I'm  afraid  he  has  rather  got  himself  into  a  mess 
by  trying  two  kinds  of  theft  at  once,  and  you  may 
not  be  sorry  to  hear  that  his  attempt  on  your  tor- 
pedo plans  is  likely  to  bring  him  a  dose  of  penal 
servitude  for  something  else.  I'll  tell  you  what 
has  happened. 

"  Little  Carton  Street,  Westminster,  I  found  to 
be  a  seedy  sort  of  place — one  of  those  old  streets 
that  have  seen  much  better  days.  A  good  many 
people  seem  to  live  in  each  house, — they  are  fairly 
large  houses,  by- the- way, — and  there  is  quite  a 
company  of  bell-handles  on  each  doorpost,  all 
down  the  side  like  organ-stops.  A  barber  had 
possession  of  the  ground  floor  front  of  No.  27 
for  trade  purposes,  so  to  him  I  went.  '  Can  you 
tell  me,'  I  said,  '  where  in  this  house  I  can  find 
Mr.  Hunter  ? '  He  looked  doubtful,  so  I  went  on  : 
'His  friend  will  do,  you  know — I  can't  think  of 
his  name ;  foreign  gentleman,  dark,  with  a  bushy 
beard.' 

"  The  barber  understood  at  once.  '  Oh,  that's 
Mirsky,  I  expect,'  he  said.  'Now  I  come  to  think 
of  it,  he  has  had  letters  addressed  to  Hunter  once 
or  twice  ;  I've  took  'em  in.     Top  floor  back.' 

"  This  was  good  so  far.     I  had  got  at  *  Mr.  Hun- 


116  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

ter's'  other  alias.  So,  byway  of  possessing  him 
with  the  idea  that  I  knew  all  about  him,  I  deter- 
mined to  ask  for  him  as  Mirsky  before  handing 
over  the  letter  addressed  to  him  as  Hunter.  A  lit- 
tle bluff  of  that  sort  is  invaluable  at  the  right  time. 
At  the  top  floor  back  I  stopped  at  the  door  and 
tried  to  open  it  at  once,  but  it  was  locked.  I  could 
hear  somebody  scuttling  about  within,  as  though 
carrying  things  about,  and  I  knocked  again.  In  a 
little  while  the  door  opened  about  a  foot,  and  there 
stood  Mr.  Hunter, — or  Mirsky,  as  you  like, — the 
man  who,  in  the  character  of  a  traveller  in  steam- 
packing,  came  here  twice  to-day.  He  was  in  his 
shirt-sleeves,  and  cuddled  something  under  his 
arm,  hastily  covered  with  a  spotted  pocket-hand- 
kerchief. 

"  *  I  have  called  to  see  M.  Mirsky,'  I  said,  '  with 
a  confidential  letter ' 

" £  Oh,  yas,  yas,'  he  answered  hastily;  '  I  know — 
I  know.  Excuse  me  one  minute.'  And  he  rushed 
off  down  stairs  with  his  parcel. 

"Here  was  a  noble  chance.  For  a  moment  I 
thought  of  following  him,  in  case  there  might  be 
any  thing  interesting  in  the  parcel.  But  I  had  to 
decide  in  a  moment,  and  I  decided  on  trying  the 
room.  I  slipped  inside  the  door,  and,  finding  the 
key  on  the  inside,  locked  it.  It  was  a  confused 
sort  of  room,  with  a  little  iron  bedstead  in  one  cor- 
ner and  a  sort  of  rough  boarded  enclosure  in 
another.  This  I  rightly  conjectured  to  be  the  pho- 
tographic dark-room,  and  made  for  it  at  once. 

"  There  was  plenty  of  light  within  when  the  door 
was  left  open,  and  I  made  at  once  for  the  drying- 


THE   CASE  OP  THE  DIXON  TORPEDO  117 

rack  that  was  fastened  over  the  sink.  There  were 
a  number  of  negatives  in  it,  and  I  began  hastily- 
examining  them  one  after  another.  In  the  middle 
of  this  our  friend  Mirsky  returned  and  tried  the 
door.  He  rattled  violently  at  the  handle  and 
pushed.     Then  he  called. 

"  At  this  moment  I  had  come  upon  the  first  of 
the  negatives  you  have  just  smashed.  The  fixing 
and  washing  had  evidently  only  lately  been  com- 
pleted, and  the  negative  was  drying  on  the  rack. 
I  seized  it,  of  course,  and  the  others  which  stood 
by  it. 

"  'Who  are  you,  there,  inside?'  Mirsky  shouted 
indignantly  from  the  landing.  'Why  for  you  go 
in  my  room  like  that  ?  Open  this  door  at  once,  or 
I  call  the  police  ! ' 

"  I  took  no  notice.  I  had  got  the  full  number  of 
negatives,  one  for  each  drawing,  but  I  was  not  by 
any  means  sure  that  he  had  not  taken  an  extra  set ; 
so  I  went  on  hunting  down  the  rack.  There  were 
no  more,  so  I  set  to  work  to  turn  out  all  the  unde- 
veloped plates.  It  was  quite  possible,  you  see, 
that  the  other  set,  if  it  existed,  had  not  yet  been 
developed. 

"  Mirsky  changed  his  tune.  After  a  little  more 
banging  and  shouting  I  could  hear  him  kneel  down 
and  try  the  key-hole.  I  had  left  the  key  there,  so 
that  he  could  see  nothing.  But  he  began  talking 
softly  and  rapidly  through  the  hole  in  a  foreign 
language.  I  did  not  know  it  in  the  least,  but  I 
believe  it  was  Russian.  What  had  led  him  to 
believe  I  understood  Russian  I  could  not  at  the 
time  imagine,  though  I  have  a  notion  now.    I  went 


118  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

on  ruining  his  stock  of  plates.  I  found  several 
boxes,  apparently  of  new  plates,  but,  as  there  was 
no  means  of  telling  whether  they  were  really  un- 
used or  were  merely  undeveloped,  but  with  the 
chemical  impress  of  your  drawings  on  them,  I 
dragged  every  one  ruthlessly  from  its  hiding-place 
and  laid  it  out  in  the  full  glare  of  the  sunlight — 
destroying  it  thereby,  of  course,  whether  it  was 
unused  or  not. 

"  Mirsky  left  off  talking,  and  I  heard  him  quietly 
sneaking  off.  Perhaps  his  conscience  was  .not  suffi- 
ciently clear  to  warrant  an  appeal  to  the  police,  but 
it  seemed  to  me  rather  probable  at  the  time  that 
that  was  what  he  was  going  for.  So  I  hurried  on 
with  my  work.  I  found  three  dark  slides, — the 
parts  that  carry  the  plates  in  the  back  of  the  cam- 
era, you  know, — one  of  them  fixed  in  the  camera 
itself.  These  I  opened,  and  exposed  the  plates  to 
ruination  as  before.  I  suppose  nobody  ever  did  so 
much  devastation  in  a  photographic  studio  in  ten 
minutes  as  I  managed. 

"  I  had  spoiled  every  plate  I  could  find,  and  had 
the  developed  negatives  safely  in  my  pocket,  when 
I  happened  to  glance  at  a  porcelain  washing-well 
under  the  sink.  There  was  one  negative  in  that, 
and  I  took  it  up.  It  was  not  a  negative  of  a  draw- 
ing of  yours,  but  of  a  Russian  twenty-ruble  note  !  " 

"This  was  a  discovery.  The  only  possible  rea- 
son any  man  could  have  for  photographing  a  bank- 
note was  the  manufacture  of  an  etched  plate  for  the 
production  of  forged  copies.  I  was  almost  as 
pleased  as  I  had  been  at  the  discovery  of  your  nega- 
tives.   He  might  bring  the  police  now  as  soon  as  he 


THE  CASE  OF  THE  DIXON  TORPEDO  119 

liked  ;  I  could  turn  the  tables  on  him  completely. 
I  began  to  hunt  about  for  any  thing  else  relating  to 
this  negative. 

"I  found  an  inking-roller,  some  old  pieces  of 
blanket  (used  in  printing  from  plates),  and  in  a 
corner  on  the  floor,  heaped  over  with  newspapers 
and  rubbish,  a  small  copying-press.  There  was 
also  a  dish  of  acid,  but  not  an  etched  plate  or  a 
printed  note  to  be  seen.  I  was  looking  at  the  press, 
with  the  negative  in  one  hand  and  the  inking-roller 
in  the  other,  when  I  became  conscious  of  a  shadow 
across  the  window.  I  looked  up  quickly,  and  there 
was  Mirsky  hanging  over  from  some  ledge  or  pro- 
jection to  the  side  of  the  window,  and  staring 
straight  at  me,  with  a  look  of  unmistakable  terror 
and  apj>rehension. 

"The  face  vanished  immediately.  I  had  to 
move  a  table  to  get  at  the  window,  and  by  the 
time  I  had  opened  it  there  was  no  sign  or  sound 
of  the  rightful  tenant  of  the  room.  I  had  no  doubt 
now  of  his  reason  for  carrying  a  parcel  down  stairs. 
He  probably  mistook  me  for  another  visitor  he  was 
expecting,  and,  knowing  he  must  take  this  visitor 
into  his  room,  threw  the  papers  and  rubbish  over 
the  press,  and  put  up  his  plates  and  papers  in  a 
bundle  and  secreted  them  somewhere  down  stairs, 
lest  his  occupation  should  be  observed. 

"  Plainly,  my  duty  now  was  to  communicate  with 
the  police.  So,  by  the  help  of  my  friend  the  barber 
down  stairs,  a  messenger  was  found  and  a  note  sent 
over  to  Scotland  Yard.  I  awaited,  of  course,  for 
the  arrival  of  the  police,  and  occupied  the  interval 
in  another  look  round — finding  nothing  important, 


120  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

however.  When  the  official  detective  arrived,  he 
recognized  at  once  the  importance  of  the  case.  A 
large  number  of  forged  Russian  notes  have  been 
put  into  circulation  on  the  Continent  lately,  it 
seems,  and  it  was  suspected  that  they  came  from 
London.  The  Russian  Government  have  been  send- 
ing urgent  messages  to  the  police  here  on  the 
subject. 

"  Of  course  I  said  nothing  about  your  business  ; 
but,  while  I  was  talking  with  the  Scotland  Yard 
man,  a  letter  was  left  by  a  messenger,  addressed  to 
Mirsky.  The  letter  will  be  examined,  of  course, 
by  the  proper  authorities,  but  I  was  not  a  little 
interested  to  perceive  that  the  envelope  bore  the 
Russian  imperial  arms  above  the  words  '  Russian 
Embassy.'  Now,  why  should  Mirsky  communicate 
with  the  Russian  Embassy  ?  Certainly  not  to  let 
the  officials  know  that  he  was  carrying  on  a  very 
extensive  and  lucrative  business  in  the  manufacture 
of  spurious  Russian  notes.  I  think  it  is  rather 
more  than  possible  that  he  wrote — probably  before 
he  actually  got  your  drawings — to  say  that  he  could 
sell  information  of  the  highest  importance,  and  that 
this  letter  was  a  reply.  Further,  I  think  it  quite 
possible  that,  when  I  asked  for  him  by  his  Russian 
name  and  spoke  of  'a  confidential  letter,'  he  at 
once  concluded  that  /  had  come  from  the  embassy 
in  answer  to  his  letter.  That  would  account  for  his 
addressing  me  in  Russian  through  the  key-hole  ; 
and,  of  course,  an  official  from  the  Russian 
Embassy  would  be  the  very  last  person  in  the 
world  whom  he  would  like  to  observe  any  indica- 
tions of  his  little  etching  experiments.     But,  any- 


THE  CASE  OP  THE  DIXON  TORPEDO  121 

how,  be  that  as  it  may,"  Hewitt  concluded,  "your 
drawings  are  safe  now,  and  if  once  Mirsky  is  caught, 
— and  I  think  it  likely,  for  a  man  in  his  shirt- 
sleeves, with  scarcely  any  start,  and,  perhaps,  no 
money  about  him,  hasn't  a  great  chance  to  get 
away, — if  he  is  caught,  I  say,  he  will  probably  get 
something  handsome  at  St.  Petersburg  in  the  way 
of  imprisonment,  or  Siberia,  or  what-not ;  so  that 
you  will  be  amply  avenged." 

"  Yes,  but  I  don't  at  all  understand  this  business 
of  the  drawings  even  now.  How  in  the  world  were 
they  taken  out  of  the  place,  and  how  in  the  world 
did  you  find  it  out  1 " 

"Nothing  could  be  simpler;  and  yet  the  plan 
was  rather  ingenious.  I'll  tell  you  exactly  how  the 
thing  revealed  itself  to  me.  From  your  original 
description  of  the  case  many  people  would  con- 
sider that  an  impossibility  had  been  performed. 
Nobody  had  gone  out  and  nobody  had  come  in,  and 
yet  the  drawings  had  been  taken  away.  But  an 
impossibility  is  an  impossibility,  after  all,  and  as 
drawings  don't  run  away  of  themselves,  plainly 
somebody  had  taken  them,  unaccountable  as  it 
might  seem.  Now,  as  they  were  in  your  inner 
office,  the  only  people  who  could  have  got  at  them 
besides  yourself  were  your  assistants,  so  that  it  was 
pretty  clear  that  one  of  them,  at  least,  had  some- 
thing to  do  with  the  business.  You  told  me  that 
Worsf  old  was  an  excellent  and  intelligent  draughts- 
man. Well,  if  such  a  man  as  that  meditated 
treachery,  he  would  probably  be  able  to  carry 
away  the  design  in  his  head, — at  any  rate,  a  little  at 
a  time, — and  would  be  under  no  necessity  to  run  the 


122  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

risk  of  stealing  a  set  of  the  drawings.  But  Bitter, 
you  remarked,  was  an  inferior  sort  of  man,  'not 
particularly  smart,'  I  think,  were  your  words — 
only  a  mechanical  sort  of  tracer.  He  would  be 
unlikely  to  be  able  to  carry  in  his  head  the  com- 
plicated details  of  such  designs  as  yours,  and, 
being  in  a  subordinate  position,  and  continually 
overlooked,  he  would  find  it  impossible  to  make 
copies  of  the  plans  in  the  office.  So  that,  to  begin 
with,  I  thought  I  saw  the  most  probable  path  to 
start  on. 

"  When  I  looked  round  the  rooms,  I  pushed  open 
the  glass  door  of  the  barrier  and  left  the  door  to 
the  inner  office  ajar,  in  order  to  be  able  to  see  any 
thing  that  might  happen  in  any  part  of  the  place, 
without  actually  expecting  any  definite  develop- 
ment. While  we  were  talking,  as  it  happened,  our 
friend  Mirsky  (or  Hunter — as  you  please)  came  into 
the  outer  office,  and  my  attention  was  instantly 
called  to  him  by  the  first  thing  he  did.  Did  you 
notice  any  thing  peculiar  yourself  I " 

"No,  really,  I  can't  say  I  did.  He  seemed  to 
behave  much  as  any  traveller  or  agent  might." 

"Well,  what  I  noticed  was  the  fact  that  as  soon 
as  he  entered  the  place  he  put  his  walking-stick 
into  the  umbrella-stand  over  there  by  the  door, 
close  by  where  he  stood,  a  most  unusual  thing  for 
a  casual  caller  to  do,  before  even  knowing  whether 
you  were  in.  This  made  me  watch  him  closely.  I 
perceived  with  increased  interest  that  the  stick 
was  exactly  of  the  same  kind  and  pattern  as 
one  already  standing  there,  also  a  curious  thing. 
I  kept  my  eyes  carefully  on  those  sticks,  and  was 


THE  CASE  OF  THE  DIXON  TORPEDO  123 

all  the  more  interested  and  edified  to  see,  when  he 
left,  that  he  took  the  other  stick — not  the  one  he 
came  with — from  the  stand,  and  carried  it  away, 
leaving  his  own  behind.  I  might  have  followed 
him,  but  I  decided  that  more  could  be  learned  by 
staying,  as,  in  fact,  proved  to  be  the  case.  This, 
by-the-bye,  is  the  stick  he  carried  away  with  him. 
I  took  the  liberty  of  fetching  it  back  from  West- 
minster, because  I  conceive  it  to  be  Hitter's 
property." 

Hewitt  produced  the  stick.  It  was  an  ordinary, 
thick  Malacca  cane,  with  a  buck-horn  handle  and  a 
silver  band.  Hewitt  bent  it  across  his  knee  and 
laid  it  on  the  table. 

"Yes,"  Dickson  answered,  "that  is  Bitter's 
stick.  I  think  I  have  often  seen  it  in  the  stand. 
But  what  in  the  world " 

"One  moment;  I'll  just  fetch  the  stick  Mirsky 
left  behind."  And  Hewitt  stepped  across  the 
corridor. 

He  returned  with  another  stick,  apparently  an 
exact  fac-simile  of  the  other,  and  placed  it  by  the 
side  of  the  other. 

"  When  your  assistants  went  into  the  inner  room, 
I  carried  this  stick  off  for  a  minute  or  two.  I  knew 
it  was  not  Worsf old's,  because  there  was  an  um- 
brella there  with  his  initial  on  the  handle.  Look 
at  this." 

Martin  Hewitt  gave  the  handle  a  twist  and  rap- 
idly unscrewed  it  from  the  top.  Then  it  was  seen 
that  the  stick  was  a  mere  tube  of  very  thin  metal, 
painted  to  appear  like  a  Malacca  cane. 

"It  was  plain  at  once  that  this  was  no  Malacca 


124  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

cane — it  wouldn't  bend.  Inside  it  I  found  your 
tracings,  rolled  up  tightly.  You  can  get  a  marvel- 
lous quantity  of  thin  tracing-paper  into  a  small 
compass  by  tight  rolling." 

"  And  this — this  was  the  way  they  were  brought 
back!"  the  engineer  exclaimed.  UI  see  that 
clearly.  But  how  did  they  get  away?  That's  as 
mysterious  as  ever." 

"Not  a  bit  of  it!  See  here.  Mirsky  gets  hold 
of  Bitter,  and  they  agree  to  get  your  drawings  and 
photograph  them.  Hitter  is  to  let  his  confederate 
have  the  drawings,  and  Mirsky  is  to  bring  them 
back  as  soon  as  possible,  so  that  they  sha'n't  be 
missed  for  a  moment.  Bitter  habitually  carries 
this  Malacca  cane,  and  the  cunning  of  Mirsky  at 
once  suggests  that  this  tube  should  be  made  in  out- 
ward fac-simile.  This  morning,  Mirsky  keeps  the 
actual  stick  and  Hitter  comes  to  the  office  with  the 
tube.  He  seizes  the  first  opportunity — probably 
when  you  were  in  this  private  room,  and  Worsfold 
was  talking  to  you  from  the  corridor — to  get  at  the 
tracings,  roll  them  up  tightly,  and  put  them  in  the 
tube,  putting  the  tube  back  into  the  umbrella- 
stand.  At  half-past  twelve,  or  whenever  it  was, 
Mirsky  turns  up  for  the  first  time  with  the  actual 
stick  and  exchanges  them,  just  as  he  afterward  did 
when  he  brought  the  drawings  back." 

"Yes,  but  Mirsky  came  half-an-hour  after  they 

were Oh,  yes,  I  see.    What  a  fool  I  was  !    I  was 

forgetting.  Of  course,  when  I  first  missed  the  trac- 
ings, they  were  in  this  walking-stick,  safe  enough, 
and  I  was  tearing  my  hair  out  within  arm's  reach 
of  them!" 


THE  CASE  OF  THE  DIXON  TORPEDO  125 

"  Precisely.  And  Mirsky  took  them  away  before 
your  very  eyes.  I  expect  Eitter  was  in  a  rare  funk 
when  he  found  that  the  drawings  were  missed.  He 
calculated,  no  doubt,  on  your  not  wanting  them  for 
the  hour  or  two  they  would  be  out  of  the  office." 

11  How  lucky  that  it  struck  me  to  jot  a  pencil- 
note  on  one  of  them  !  I  might  easily  have  made 
my  note  somewhere  else,  and  then  I  should  never 
have  known  that  they  had  been  away." 

"Yes,  they  didn't  give  you  any  too  much  time 
to  miss  them.  Well,  I  think  the  rest's  pretty  clear. 
I  brought  the  tracings  in  here,  screwed  up  the  sham 
stick  and  put  it  back.  You  identified  the  tracings 
and  found  none  missing,  and  then  my  course  was 
pretty  clear,  though  it  looked  difficult.  I  knew 
you  would  be  very  naturally  indignant  with  Bitter, 
so,  as  I  wanted  to  manage  him  myself,  I  told  you 
nothing  of  what  he  had  actually  done,  for  fear  that, 
in  your  agitated  state,  you  might  burst  out  with 
something  that  would  spoil  my  game.  To  Eitter  I 
pretended  to  know  nothing  of  the  return  of  the 
drawings  or  how  they  had  been  stolen — the  only 
things  I  did  know  with  certainty.  But  I  did  pre- 
tend to  know  all  about  Mirsky — or  Hunter — when, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  I  knew  nothing  at  all,  except 
that  he  probably  went  under  more  than  one  name. 
That  put  Eitter  into  my  hands  completely.  When 
he  found  the  game  was  up,  he  began  with  a  lying 
confession.  Believing  that  the  tracings  were  still 
in  the  stick  and  that  we  knew  nothing  of  their 
return,  he  said  that  they  had  not  been  away,  and 
that  he  would  fetch  them — as  I  had  expected  he 
would.     I  let  him  go  for  them  alone,  and,  when  he 


126  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

returned,  utterly  broken  up  by  the  discovery  that 
they  were  not  there,  I  had  him  altogether  at  my 
mercy.  You  see,  if  he  had  known  that  the  draw- 
ings were  all  the  time  behind  your  book-case,  he 
might  have  brazened  it  out,  sworn  that  the  draw- 
ings had  been  there  all  the  time,  and  we  could  have 
done  nothing  with  him.  We  couldn't  have  suffi- 
ciently frightened  him  by  a  threat  of  prosecution 
for  theft,  because  there  the  things  were  in  your 
possession,  to  his  knowledge. 

"As  it  was  he  answered  the  helm  capitally :  gave 
us  Mirsky's  address  on  the  envelope,  and  wrote  the 
letter  that  was  to  have  got  him  out  of  the  way  while 
I  committed  burglary,  if  that  disgraceful  expedient 
had  not  been  rendered  unnecessary.  On  the  whole, 
the  case  has  gone  very  well." 

"It  has  gone  marvellously  well,  thanks  to  your- 
self.   But  what  shall  I  do  with  Ritter  % " 

"Here's  his  stick — knock  him  down  stairs  with 
it,  if  you  like.  I  should  keep  the  tube,  if  I  were 
you,  as  a  memento.  I  don't  suppose  the  respect- 
able Mirsky  will  ever  call  to  ask  for  it.  But  I 
should  certainly  kick  Ritter  out  of  doors — or  out 
of  window,  if  you  like — without  delay." 

Mirsky  was  caught,  and,  after  two  remands  at 
the  police-court,  was  extradited  on  the  charge  of 
forging  Russian  notes.  It  came  out  that  he  had 
written  to  the  embassy,  as  Hewitt  had  surmised, 
stating  that  he  had  certain  valuable  information  to 
offer,  and  the  letter  which  Hewitt  had  seen  deliv- 
ered was  an  acknowledgment,  and  a  request  for  more 
definite  particulars.  This  was  what  gave  rise  to  the 
impression  that  Mirsky  had  himself  informed  the 


THE  CASE  OP  THE  DIXON  TORPEDO  127 

Russian  authorities  of  his  forgeries.    His  real  intent 
was  very  different,  but  was  never  guessed. 

"I  wonder,"  Hewitt  has  once  or  twice  observed, 
"whether,  after  all,  it  would  not  have  paid  the 
Russian  authorities  better  on  the  whole  if  I  had 
never  investigated  Mirsky'  s  little  note  factory.  The 
Dixon  torpedo  was  worth  a  good  many  twenty-ruble 
notes." 


V.    THE  QUINTON  JEWEL  AFFAIR 

It  was  comparatively  rarely  that  Hewitt  came 
into  contact  with  members  of  the  regular  criminal 
class — those,  I  mean,  who  are  thieves,  of  one  sort 
or  another,  by  exclusive  profession.  Still,  nobody 
could  have  been  better  prepared  than  Hewitt  for 
encountering  this  class  when  it  became  necessary. 
By  some  means,  which  I  never  quite  understood,  he 
managed  to  keep  abreast  of  the  very  latest  fash- 
ions in  the  ever-changing  slang  dialect  of  the  fra- 
ternity, and  he  was  a  perfect  master  of  the  more 
modern  and  debased  form  of  Romany.  So  much 
so  that  frequently  a  gypsy  who  began  (as  they 
always  do)  by  pretending  that  he  understood  noth- 
ing, and  never  heard  of  a  gypsy  language,  ended  by 
confessing  that  Hewitt  could  roJcker  better  than 
most  Romany  chals  themselves. 

By  this  acquaintance  with  their  habits  and  talk 
Hewitt  was  sometimes  able  to  render  efficient  ser- 
vice in  cases  of  especial  importance.  In  the  Quin- 
ton  jewel  affair  Hewitt  came  into  contact  with  a 
very  accomplished  thief. 

The  case  will  probably  be  very  well  remembered. 
Sir  Valentine  Quinton,  before  he  married,  had  been 
as  poor  as  only  a  man  of  rank  with  an  old  country 
establishment  to  keep  up  can  be.  His  marriage, 
however,  with  the  daughter  of  a  wealthy  financier 
had  changed  all  that,  and  now  the  Quinton  estab- 

128 


THE  QUINTON  JEWEL  AFFAIR  129 

lishment  was  carried  on  on  as  lavish  a  scale  as 
might  be ;  and,  indeed,  the  extravagant  habits  of 
Lady  Quinton  herself  rendered  it  an  extremely 
lucky  thing  that  she  had  brought  a  fortune  with  her. 

Among  other  things  her  jewels  made  quite  a  col- 
lection, and  chief  among  them  was  the  great  ruby, 
one  of  the  very  few  that  were  sent  to  this  country 
to  be  sold  (at  an  average  price  of  somewhere  about 
twenty  thousand  pounds  apiece,  I  believe)  by  the 
Burmese  king  before  the  annexation  of  his  country. 
Let  but  a  ruby  be  of  a  great  size  and  color, 
and  no  equally  fine  diamond  can  approach  its 
value.  Wei],  this  great  ruby  (which  was  set  in 
a  pendant,  by-the-bye),  together  with  a  necklace, 
brooches,  bracelets,  ear-rings, — indeed,  the  greater 
part  of  Lady  Quinton' s  collection, — were  stolen. 
The  robbery  was  effected  at  the  usual  time  and 
in  the  usual  way  in  cases  of  carefully  planned 
jewelry  robberies.  The  time  was  early  evening, 
— dinner-time,  in  fact, — and  an  entrance  had  been 
made  by  the  window  to  Lady  Quinton' s  dressing- 
room,  the  door  screwed  up  on  the  inside,  and 
wires  artfully  stretched  about  the  grounds  below 
to  overset  any  body  who  might  observe  and  pursue 
the  thieves. 

On  an  investigation  by  London  detectives,  how- 
ever, a  feature  of  singularity  was  brought  to  light. 
There  had  plainly  been  only  one  thief  at  work  at 
Eadcot  Hall,  and  no  other  had  been  inside  the 
grounds.  Alone  he  had  planted  the  wires,  opened 
the  window,  screwed  the  door,  and  picked  the  lock 
of  the  safe.  Clearly  this  was  a  thief  of  the  most 
accomplished  description. 


130  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

Some  few  days  passed,  and,  although  the  police 
had  made  various  arrests,  they  appeared  to  be  all 
mistakes,  and  the  suspected  persons  were  released 
one  after  another.  I  was  talking  of  the  robbery 
with  Hewitt  at  lunch,  and  asked  him  if  he  had 
received  any  commission  to  hunt  for  the  missing 
jewels. 

11  No,"  Hewitt  replied,  "I  haven't  been  commis- 
sioned. They  are  offering  an  immense  reward, 
however — a  very  pleasant  sum,  indeed.  I  have 
had  a  short  note  from  Eadcot  Hall  informing  me  of 
the  amount,  and  that's  all.  Probably  they  fancy 
that  I  may  take  the  case  up  as  a  speculation,  but 
that  is  a  great  mistake.  I'm  not  a  beginner,  and  I 
must  be  commissioned  in  a  regular  manner,  hit 
or  miss,  if  I  am  to  deal  with  the  case.  I've  quite 
enough  commissions  going  now,  and  no  time  to 
waste  hunting  for  a  problematical  reward." 

But  we  were  nearer  a  clue  to  the  Quinton  jewels 
than  we  then  supposed. 

We  talked  of  other  things,  and  presently  rose 
and  left  the  restaurant,  strolling  quietly  toward 
home.  Some  little  distance  from  the  Strand,  and 
near  our  own  door,  we  passed  an  excited  Irishman 
— without  doubt  an  Irishman  by  appearance  and 
talk — who  was  pouring  a  torrent  of  angry  com- 
plaints in  the  ears  of  a  policeman.  The  policeman 
obviously  thought  little  of  the  man's  grievances, 
and  with  an  amused  smile  appeared  to  be  advising 
him  to  go  home  quietly  and  think  no  more  about  it. 
We  passed  on  and  mounted  our  stairs.  Something 
interesting  in  our  conversation  made  me  stop  for  a 
little  while  at  Hewitt's  office  door  on  my  way  up, 


THE  QUINTON  JEWEL  AFFAIR  131 

and,  while  I  stood  there,  the  Irishman  we  had  seen 
in  the  street  mounted  the  stairs.  He  was  a  poorly- 
dressed  but  sturdy-looking  fellow,  apparently  a 
laborer,  in  a  badly-worn  best  suit  of  clothes.  His 
agitation  still  held  him,  and  without  a  pause  he 
immediately  burst  out : 

"  Which  of  ye  jintlemen  will  be  Misther  Hewitt, 
sor?" 

"This  is  Mr.  Hewitt,"  I  said.  "Do  you  want 
him?" 

"It's  protecshin  I  want,  sor — protecshin!  I 
spake  to  the  polis,  an'  they  laff  at  me,  begob. 
Foive  days  have  I  lived  in  London,  an'  'tis  nothin' 
but  battle,  murdher,  an'  suddhen  death  for  me 
here  all  day  an'  ivery  day!  An'  the  polis  say  I'm 
dhrunk !" 

He  gesticulated  wildly,  and  to  me  it  seemed  just 
possible  that  the  police  might  be  right. 

"They  say  I'm  dhrunk,  sor,"  he  continued, 
"but,  begob,  I  b'lieve  they  think  I'm  mad.  An' 
me  being  thracked  an'  f  olleyed  an'  dogged  an'  way- 
laid an'  poisoned  an'  blandandhered  an'  kidnapped 
an'  murdhered,  an'  for  why  I  do  not  know  ! " 

"And  who's  doing  all  this  ? " 

"Sthrangers,  sor — sthrangers.  'Tis  a  sthranger 
here  I  am  mesilf ,  an'  f  wy  they  do  it  bates  me,  onless 
I  do  be  so  like  the  Prince  av  Wales  or  other  crowned 
head  they  thry  to  slaughter  me.  They're  layin' 
for  me  in  the  sthreet  now,  I  misdoubt  not,  and 
f  wat  they  may  thry  next  I  can  tell  no  more  than 
the  Lord  Mayor.     An'  the  polis  won' t  listen  to  me! " 

This,  I  thought,  must  be  one  of  the  very  common 
cases  of  mental  hallucination  which  one  hears  of 


132  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

every  day — the  belief  of  the  sufferer  that  he  is  sur- 
rounded by  enemies  and  followed  by  spies.  It  is 
probably  the  most  usual  delusion  of  the  harmless 
lunatic. 

"But  what  have  these  people  done?"  Hewitt 
asked,  looking  rather  interested,  although  amused. 
"  What  actual  assaults  have  they  committed,  and 
when  ?    And  who  told  you  to  come  here  ? " 

"  Who  towld  me,  is  ut !  Who  but  the  payler  out- 
side— in  the  street  below  !  I  explained  to  'um,  an' 
sez  he :  '  Ah,  you  go  an'  take  a  slape,'  sez  he  ;  '  you 
go  an'  take  a  good  slape,  an'  they'll  all  be  gone 
whin  ye  wake  up.'  *  But  they'll  murdher  me  ! '  sez 
I.  '  Oh,  no ! '  sez  he,  smilin'  behind  av  his  ugly 
face.  'Oh,  no,  they  won't;  you  take  ut  aisy,  me 
frind,  an'  go  home ! '  '  Take  it  aisy,  is  ut,  an'  go 
home!'  sez  I;  'why,  that's  just  where  they've 
been  last,  a-ruinationin'  an'  a-turnin'  av  the  place 
upside  down,  an'  me  strook  on  the  head  onsensible 
a  mile  away.  Take  ut  aisy,  is  ut,  ye  say,  whin  all 
the  demons  in  this  unholy  place  is  jumpin'  on  me 
ivery  minut  in  places  promiscuous  till  I  can't  tell 
where  to  turn,  descendin'  an'  vanishin'  marvellious 
an'  onaccountable ?  Take  ut  aisy,  is  ut?'  sez  I. 
'Well,  me  frind,'  sez  he,  'I  can't  help  ye ;  that's 
the  marvellious  an'  onaccountable  departmint  up 
the  stairs  forninst  ye.  Misther  Hewitt  ut  is,'  sez 
he,  '  that  attinds  to  the  onaccountable  departmint, 
him  as  wint  by  a  minut  ago.  You  go  an'  bother 
him.'    That's  how  I  was  towld,  sor." 

Hewitt  smiled. 

' '  Very  good,"  he  said  ;  "  and  now  what  are  these 
extraordinary  troubles  of  yours  \    Don't  declaim," 


THE  QUINTON  JEWEL   AFFAIR  133 

he  added,  as  the  Irishman  raised  his  hand  and 
opened  his  mouth  preparatory  to  another  torrent  of 
complaint;  "just  say  in  ten  words,  if  you  can, 
what  they've  done  to  you." 

"I  will,  sor.  Wan  day  had  I  been  in  London, 
sor — wan  day  only,  an'  a  low  scutt  thried  to  poison 
me  dhrink ;  next  day  some  udther  thief  av  sin 
shoved  me  off  av  a  railway  platform  undher  a  train, 
malicious  and  purposeful;  glory  be,  he  didn't  kill 
me  !  but  the  very  docther  that  felt  me  bones  thried 
to  pick  me  pockut,  I  du  b'lieve.  Sunday  night  I 
was  grabbed  outrageous  in  a  darrk  turnin',  rowled 
on  the  groun',  half  strangled,  an'  me  pockuts  nigh 
ripped  out  av  me  trousies.  An'  this  very  blessed 
mornin'  av  light  I  was  strook  onsensible  an'  left  a 
livin'  corpse,  an'  my  lodgin's  penethrated  an'  all 
the  thruck  mishandled  an'  bruk  up  behind  me 
back.  Is  that  a  panjandhery  for  the  polis  to  laff 
at,  sor?" 

Had  Hewitt  not  been  there  I  think  I  should  have 
done  my  best  to  quiet  the  poor  fellow  with  a  few 
soothing  words  and  to  persuade  him  to  go  home  to 
his  friends.  His  excited  and  rather  confused  man- 
ner, his  fantastic  story  of  a  sort  of  general  con- 
spiracy to  kill  him,  and  the  absurd  reference 
to  the  doctor  who  tried  to  pick  his  pocket  seemed 
to  me  plainly  to  confirm  my  first  impression  that 
he  was  insane.  But  Hewitt  appeared  strangely 
interested. 

"  Did  they  steal  any  thing  ? "  he  asked. 

"Divil  a  shtick  but  me  door-key,  an'  that  they 
tuk  home  an'  lift  in  the  door." 

Hewitt  opened  his  office  door. 


134 

"Come  in,"  he  said,  "and  tell  me  all  about  this. 
You  come,  too,  Brett." 

The  Irishman  and  I  followed  him  into  the  inner 
office,  where,  shutting  the  door,  Hewitt  suddenly- 
turned  on  the  Irishman  and  exclaimed  sharply : 
"  Then  yov?w  still  got  it  ?  " 

He  looked  keenly  in  the  man's  eyes,  but  the  only 
expression  there  was  one  of  surprise. 

"  Got  ut  % "  said  the  Irishman.  « '  Got  f  what,  sor  j 
Is  ut  you're  thinkin'  I've  got  the  horrors,  as  well  as 
thepolis?" 

Hewitt' s  gaze  relaxed.  ' '  Sit  down,  sit  down ! "  he 
said.  "  You've  still  got  your  watch  and  money,  I 
suppose,  since  you  weren't  robbed  f " 

■ '  Oh,  that  %  Glory  be,  I  have  ut  still !  though  for 
how  long, — or  me  own  head,  for  that  matter, — in  this 
state  of  besiegement,  I  cannot  say." 

"Now,"  said  Hewitt,  "I  want  a  full,  true,  and 
particular  account  of  yourself  and  your  doings  for 
the  last  week.    First,  your  name ! " 

"  Leamy's  my  name,  sor — Michael  Leamy." 

"  Lately  from  Ireland !  " 

"  Over  from  Dublin  this  last  blessed  Wednesday, 
and  a  crooil  bad  poundherin'  ut  was  in  the  boat, 
too — shpakin'  av  that  same." 

"Looking  for  work ? " 

"That  is  my  purshuit  at  prisint,  sor." 

"Did  any  thing  noticeable  happen  before  these 
troubles  of  yours  began — any  thing  here  in  London 
or  on  the  journey  8 " 

"Sure,"  the  Irishman  smiled,  "part  av  the  way 
I  thravelled  first-class  by  favor  av  the  gyard,  an'  I 
got  a  small  job  before  I  lift  the  train," 


THE  QUINTON  JEWEL  AFFAIR  135 

"How  was  that?  Why  did  you  travel  first-class 
part  of  the  way  ?" 

"  There  was  a  station  f  where  we  shtopped  afther  a 
long  run,  an'  I  got  down  to  take  the  cramp  out  av 
me  joints,  an'  take  a  taste  av  dhrink.  I  overshtayed 
somehow,  an',  whin  I  got  to  the  train,  begob,  it  was 
on  the  move.  There  was  a  first-class  carr'ge  door 
opin  right  forninst  me,  an'  into  that  the  gyard  crams 
me  holus-bolus.  There  was  a  juce  of  a  foine  jintle- 
man  sittin'  there,  an'  he  stares  at  me  umbrageous, 
but  I  was  not  dishcommoded,  bein'  onbashful  by 
natur' .  We  thravelled  along  a  heap  av  miles  more, 
till  we  came  near  London.  Afther  we  had  shtopped 
at  a  station  where  they  tuk  tickets  we  wint  ahead 
again,  an'  prisintly,  as  we  rips  through  some  udther 
station,  up  jumps  the  jintleman  opposite,  swearin' 
hard  undher  his  tongue,  an'  looks  out  at  the  windy. 
1 1  thought  this  train  shtopped  here,'  sez  he." 

"Chalk  Farm,"  observed  Hewitt,  with  a  nod. 

"  The  name  I  do  not  know,  sor,  but  that's  fwhat 
he  said.  Then  he  looks  at  me  onaisy  for  a  little, 
an'  at  last  he  sez  :  '  Wud  ye  loike  a  small  job,  me 
good  man,  well  paid  I ' 

11 4  Faith,'  sez  I,  *  'tis  that  will  suit  me  well.' 

"  '  Then,  see  here,'  sez  he,  *  I  should  have  got  out 
at  that  station,  havin'  particular  business ;  havin' 
missed,  I  must  sen'  a  telegrammer  from  Euston. 
Now,  here's  a  bag,'  sez  he,  'a bag  full  of  imporrtant 
papers  for  my  solicitor, — imporrtant  to  me,  ye  onder- 
shtand,  not  worth  the  shine  av  a  brass  farden  to  a 
sowl  else, — an'  I  want  'em  tuk  on  to  him.  Take  you 
this  bag,'  he  sez,  'an'  go  you  straight  out  wid  it  at 
Euston  an'  get  in  a  cab.    I  shall  stay  in  the  station 


136  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

a  bit  to  see  to  the  telegrammer.  Dhrive  out  av  the 
station,  across  the  road  outside,  an'  wait  there  five 
minuts  by  the  clock.  Ye  ondershtand  I  Wait  five 
minuts,  an'  maybe  I'll  come  an'  join  ye.  If  I  don't, 
'twill  be  bekaze  I'm  detained  onexpected,  an'  then 
ye' 11  dhrive  to  my  solicitor  straight.  Here's  his 
address,  if  ye  can  read  writin','  an'  he  put  ut  on  a 
piece  av  paper.  He  gave  me  half-a-crown  for  the 
cab,  an'  I  tuk  his  bag." 

"One  moment — have  you  the  paper  with  the 
address  now?" 

"  I  have  not,  sor.  I  missed  ut  afther  the  blay- 
guards  overset  me  yesterday  ;  but  the  solicitor's 
name  was  Hollams,  an'  a  liberal  jintleman  wid  his 
money  he  was,  too,  by  that  same  token." 

"  What  was  his  address  ? " 

"'Twas  in  Chelsea,  and  'twas  Gold  or  Golden 
something,  which  I  know  by  the  good  token  av 
fwhat  he  gave  me ;  but  the  number  I  misre- 
member." 

Hewitt  turned  to  his  directory.  "  Gold  Street  is 
the  place,  probably,"  he  said,  "  and  it  seems  to  be 
a  street  chiefly  of  private  houses.  You  would  be 
able  to  point  out  the  house  if  you  were  taken  there, 
I  suppose?" 

"  I  should  that,  sor ;  indade,  I  was  thinkin'  av 
goin'  there  an'  tellin'  Misther  Hollams  all  my 
throubles,  him  havin'  been  so  kind." 

"  Now  tell  me  exactly  what  instructions  the  man 
in  the  train  gave  you,  and  what  happened  ? " 

uHe  sez:  'You  ask  for  Misther  Hollams,  an' 
see  nobody  else.  Tell  him  ye've  brought  the 
sparks  from  Misther  W.'  " 


THE  QTJINTON  JEWEL  AFFAIR  137 

I  fancied  I  could  see  a  sudden  twinkle  in  Hewitt's 
eye,  but  he  made  no  other  sign,  and  the  Irishman 
proceeded. 

"  '  Sparks ! '  sez  I.  '  Yes,  sparks,'  sez  he.  '  Mis- 
ther  Hollams  will  know;  'tis  our  jokin'  word  for 
'em  ;  sometimes  papers  is  sparks  when  they  set  a 
lawsuit  ablaze,'  and  he  laffed.  '  But  be  sure  ye  say 
the  sparlcsfrom  Misther  IF.,'  he  sez  again,  'bekase 
then  he'll  know  ye' re  jinuine  an'  he'll  pay  ye  han'- 
some.  Say  Misther  W.  sez  you're  to  have  your 
reg'lars,  if  ye  like.     D'ye  mind  that?' 

11 '  Ay,'  sez  I,  '  that  I'm  to  have  me  reg'lars.' 

"  Well,  sor,  I  tuk  the  bag  and  wint  out  of  the 
station,  tuk  the  cab,  an'  did  all  as  he  towld  me.  I 
waited  the  foive  minuts,  but  he  niver  came,  so  off 
I  druv  to  Misther  Hollams,  and  he  threated  me 
han'some,  sor." 

"Yes,  but  tell  me  exactly  all  he  did." 

"  '  Misther  Hollams,  sor  ? '  sez  I.  '  Who  are  ye  ? ' 
sez  he.  '  Mick  Leamy,  sor,'  sez  I,  *  from  Misther 
W.  wid  the  sparks.'  'Oh,'  sez  he,  '  thin  come  in.' 
I  wint  in.  'They're  in  here,  are  they?'  sez  he, 
takin'  the  bag.  'They  are,  sor,'  sez  I,  'an'  Misther 
W.  sez  I'm  to  have  me  reg'lars.'  'You  shall,'  sez 
he.  '  What  shall  we  say,  no w— a  finnip  ? '  '  Fwhat'  s 
that,  sor?'  sez  I.  'Oh,'  sez  he,  'Is' pose  ye' re  a 
new  hand  ;  five  quid — ondershtand  that  ? '" 

"  Begob,  I  did  ondershtand  it,  an'  moighty  plazed 
I  was  to  have  come  to  a  place  where  they  pay  five- 
pun'  notes  for  carryin'  bags.  So  whin  he  asked  me 
was  I  new  to  London  an'  shud  I  kape  in  the  same 
line  av  business,  I  towld  him  I  shud  for  certin,  or 
any  thin'  else  payin'  like  it.     '  Right,'  sez  he  ;  'let 


138  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

me  know  whin  ye've  got  any  thin' — ye'  11  find  me 
all  right.'  An'  he  winked  frindly.  'Faith,  that  I 
know  I  shall,  sor,'  sez  I,  wid  the  money  safe  in  me 
pockut ;  an'  I  winked  him  back,  conjanial.  'I've 
a  smart  family  about  me,'  sez  he,  'an'  I  treat  'em 
all  fair  an'  liberal.'  An',  saints,  I  thought  it  likely 
his  family  'ud  have  all  they  wanted,  seem'  he  was 
so  free-handed  wid  a  stranger.  Thin  he  asked  me 
where  I  was  livin'  in  London,  and,  when  I  towld 
him  nowhere,  he  towld  me  av  a  room  in  Musson 
Street,  here  by  Drury  Lane,  that  was  to  let,  in  a 
house  his  fam'ly  knew  very  well,  an'  I  wint  straight 
there  an'  tuk  ut,  an'  there  I  do  be  stayin'  still, 
sor." 

I  hadn't  understood  at  first  why  Hewitt  took  so 
much  interest  in  the  Irishman's  narrative,  but  the 
latter  part  of  it  opened  my  eyes  a  little.  It  seemed 
likely  that  Leamy  had,  in  his  innocence,  been  made 
a  conveyer  of  stolen  property.  I  knew  enough  of 
thieves'  slang  to  know  that  "sparks"  meant  dia- 
monds or  other  jewels;  that  "regulars"  was  the 
term  used  for  a  payment  made  to  a  brother  thief 
who  gave  assistance  in  some  small  way,  such  as  car- 
rying the  booty;  and  that  the  "family"  was  the 
time-honored  expression  for  a  gang  of  thieves. 

"This  was  all  on  Wednesday,  I  understand," 
said  Hewitt.  "Now  tell  me  what  happened  on 
Thursday — the  poisoning,  or  drugging,  you  know  ? " 

"Well,  sor,  I  was  walking  out,  an'  toward  the 
evenin'  I  lost  mesilf.  Up  comes  a  man,  seemin'ly 
a  sthranger,  and  shmacks  me  on  the  showldher. 
'Why,  Mick!'  sez  he  ;  'it's  Mick  Leamy,  I  du 
b'lieve!' 


THE  QTTINTON  JEWEL  AFFAIR  139 

"(Iam  that,'  sez  I,  ' but  you  I  do  not  know.' 

"'Not  know  me?'  sez  he.  'Why,  I  wint  to 
school  wid  ye.'  An'  wid  that  he  hauls  me  off 
to  a  bar,  blarneyin'  and  minowdherin',  an'  orders 
dhrinks. 

"  '  Can  ye  rache  me  a  poipe-loight  \ '  sez  he,  an'  I 
turned  to  get  ut,  but,  lookin'  back  suddent,  there 
was  that  onblushin'  thief  av  the  warl'  tippin'  a 
paperful  av  powdher  stuff  into  me  glass." 

"  What  did  you  do  I  "  Hewitt  asked. 

"I  knocked  the  dhirty  face  av  him,  sor,  an'  can 
ye  blame  me  1  A  mane  scutt,  thryin'  for  to  poison 
a  well-manin'  sthranger.  I  knocked  the  face  av 
him,  an'  got  away  home." 

"  Now  the  next  misfortune  ?" 

"  Faith,  that  was  av  a  sort  likely  to  turn  out  the 
last  av  all  misfortunes.  I  wint  that  day  to  the 
Crystial  Palace,  bein'  dishposed  for  a  little  shport, 
seein'  as  I  was  new  to  London.  Comin'  home  at 
night,  there  was  a  juce  av  a  crowd  on  the  station 
platform,  consekins  of  a  late  thrain.  Shtandin' 
by  the  edge  av  the  platform  at  the  fore  end,  just  as 
the  thrain  came  in,  some  onvisible  murdherer  gives 
me  a  stupenjus  dhrive  in  the  back,  an'  over  I  wint 
on  the  line,  mid-betwixt  the  rails.  The  engine 
came  up  an'  wint  half  over  me  widout  givin'  me  a 
scratch,  bekaze  av  my  centraleous  situation,  an' 
then  the  porther-men  pulled  me  out,  nigh  sick  wid 
fright,  sor,  as  ye  may  guess.  A  jintleman  in  the 
crowd  sings  out :  'I'm  a  medical  man  ! '  an'  they 
tuk  me  in  the  waitin'-room,  an'  he  investigated  me, 
havin'  turned  e very-body  else  out  av  the  room. 
There  wuz  no  bones  bruk,  glory  be !  and  the  docthor- 


140  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

man  he  was  tellin'  me  so,  after  feelin'  me  over, 
whin  I  felt  his  hand  in  me  waistcoat  pockut. 

"  *  An'  f what's  this,  sor?'  sez  I.  'Do  you  be 
lookin'  for  your  fee  that  thief's  way  ? ' 

"  He  laffed,  and  said  :  '  I  want  no  fee  from  ye,  me 
man,  an'  I  did  but  feel  your  ribs,'  though  on  me 
conscience  he  had  done  that  undher  me  waistcoat 
already.     An'  so  I  came  home." 

"  What  did  they  do  to  you  on  Saturday  ? " 

"  Saturday,  sor,  they  gave  me  a  whole  holiday, 
and  I  began  to  think  less  av  things  ;  but  on  Sun- 
day night,  in  a  dark  place,  two  blayguards  tuk 
me  throat  from  behind,  nigh  choked  me,  flung  me 
down,  an'  wint  through  all  me  pockets  in  about 
a  quarter  av  a  minut." 

"  And  they  took  nothing,  you  say  ? " 

"  Nothing,  sor.  But  this  mornin'  I  got  my  worst 
dose.  I  was  trapesing  along  distreshful  an' 
moighty  sore,  in  a  street  just  away  off  the  Strand 
here,  whin  I  obsarved  the  docthor-man  that  was 
at  the  Crystial  Palace  station  a-smilin'  an'  beck- 
onin'  at  me  from  a  door. 

"  *  How  are  ye  now  ? '  sez  he.  c  Well,'  sez  I,  '  I'm 
moighty  sore  an'  sad  bruised,'  sez  I.  '  Is  that  so  ? ' 
sez  he.  '  Shtep  in  here.'  So  I  shtepped  in,  an'  be- 
fore I  could  wink  there  dhropped  a  crack  on  the 
back  av  me  head  that  sent  me  off  as  unknowledg- 
able  as  a  corrpse.  I  knew  no  more  for  a  while,  sor, 
whether  half-an-hour  or  an  hour,  an'  thin  I  got  up 
in  a  room  av  the  place,  marked  '  To  Let.'  'Twas  a 
house  full  av  offices,  by  the  same  token,  like  this. 
There  was  a  sore  bad  lump  on  me  head — see  ut,  sor  1 
— an'  the  whole  warl'   was  shpinnin'   roun'   ram- 


THE  QUINTON  JEWEL  AFFAIR  141 

pageous.  The  things  out  av  me  pockets  were  lyin' 
on  the  flure  by  me — all  barrin'  the  key  av  me 
room.  So  that  the  demons  had  been  through  me 
posseshins  again,  bad  luck  to  'em." 

' 'You  are  quite  sure,  are  you,  that  every  thing 
was  there  except  the  key  I "  Hewitt  asked. 

"Certin,  sor!  Well,  I  got  along  to  me  room, 
sick  an'  sorry  enough,  an'  doubtsome  whether  I 
might  get  in  wid  no  key.  But  there  was  the  key 
in  the  open  door,  an',  by  this  an'  that,  all  the  shtuff 
in  the  room — chair,  table,  bed,  an'  all — was  shtand- 
in'  on  their  heads  twisty- ways,  an'  the  bedclothes 
an'  every  thin'  else  ;  such  a  disgraceful  stramash  av 
conglomerated  thruck  as  ye  niver  dhreamt  av.  The 
chist  av  drawers  was  lyin'  on  uts  face,  wid  all  the 
dhrawers  out  an'  emptied  on  the  flure.  'Twas  as 
though  an  arrmy  had  been  lootin',  sor ! " 

"  But  still  nothing  was  gone  I " 

"  No  thin',  so  far  as  I  investigated,  sor.  But  I 
didn'  t  shtay.  I  came  out  to  spake  to  the  polis,  an' 
two  av  them  laffed  at  me — wan  afther  another !  " 

"  It  has  certainly  been  no  laughing  matter  for 
you.  Now,  tell  me — have  you  anything  in  your 
possession— documents,  or  valuables,  or  any  thing 
— that  any  other  person,  to  your  knowledge,  is 
anxious  to  get  hold  of  ? " 

"  I  have  not,  sor — divil  a  document !  As  to  valu- 
ables, thim  an'  me  is  the  co widest  av  sthrangers." 

"  Just  call  to  mind,  now,  the  face  of  the  man  who 
tried  to  put  powder  in  your  drink,  and  that  of  the 
doctor  who  attended  to  you  in  the  railway  station. 
Were  they  at  all  alike,  or  was  either  like  any  body 
you  have  seen  before  I " 


142  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

Leamy  puckered  his  forehead  and  thought. 
"Faith,"  he  said  presently,  "they  were  a  bit 
alike,  though  wan  had  a  beard  an'  the  udther 
whiskers  only." 

"Neither  happened  to  look  like  Mr.  Hollams, 
for  instance  % " 

Leamy  started.  "  Begob,  but  they  did  !  They'd 
ha'  been  mortal  like  him  if  they'd  been  shaved." 
Then,  after  a  pause,  he  suddenly  added:  "Holy 
saints  !  is  ut  the  fam'ly  he  talked  av  % " 

Hewitt  laughed.  "Perhaps  it  is,"  -he  said. 
"  Now,  as  to  the  man  who  sent  you  with  the  bag. 
Was  it  an  old  bag  \ " 

"  Bran'  cracklin'  new — a  brown  leather  bag." 

"Locked?" 

"That  I  niver  thried,  sor.  It  was  not  my  con- 
sarn." 

"True.  Now,  as  to  this  Mr.  W.  himself." 
Hewitt  had  been  rummaging  for  some  few  minutes 
in  a  portfolio,  and  finally  produced  a  photograph, 
and  held  it  before  the  Irishman's  eyes.  "Is  that 
like  him  % "  he  asked. 

"Shure  it's  the  man  himself!  Is  he  a  frind  av 
yours,  sor?" 

"No,  he's  not  exactly  a  friend  of  mine,"  Hew- 
itt answered,  with  a  grim  chuckle.  "  I  fancy  he's 
one  of  that  very  respectable  family  you  heard 
about  at  Mr.  Hollams' s.  Come  along  with  me  now 
to  Chelsea,  and  see  if  you  can  point  out  that  house 
in  Gold  Street.     I'll  send  for  a  cab." 

He  made  for  the  outer  office,  and  I  went  with  him. 

"  What  is  all  this,  Hewitt ? "  I  asked.  "A  gang 
of  thieves  with  stolen  property  ?" 


THE  QUINTON   JEWEL  AFFAIR  143 

Hewitt  looked  in  my  face  and  replied:  **!$' s 
the  Quinton  ruby  I " 

"What !  The  ruby  ?  Shall  you  take  the  case 
up,  then?" 

"  I  shall.    It  is  no  longer  a  speculation." 

"Then  do  you  expect  to  find  it  at  Hollams's 
house  in  Chelsea  ? "  I  asked. 

"No,  I  don't,  because  it  isn't  there— else  why 
are  they  trying  to  get  it  from  this  unlucky  Irish- 
man ?  There  has  been  bad  faith  in  Hollams's  gang, 
I  expect,  and  Hollams  has  missed  the  ruby  and 
suspects  Leamy  of  having  taken  it  from  the  bag." 

"Then  who  is  this  Mr.  W.  whose  portrait  you 
have  in  your  possession? " 

"  See  here  ! "  Hewitt  turned  over  a  small  pile  of 
recent  newspapers  and  selected  one,  pointing  at  a 
particular  paragraph.  "I  kept  that  in  my  mind, 
because  to  me  it  seemed  to  be  the  most  likely  arrest 
of  the  lot,"  he  said. 

It  was  an  evening  paper  of  the  previous  Thursday, 
and  the  paragraph  was  a  very  short  one,  thus : 

"The  man  Wilks,  who  was  arrested  at  Euston 
Station  yesterday,  in  connection  with  the  robbery 
of  Lady  Quinton' s  jewels,  has  been  released,  noth- 
ing being  found  to  incriminate  him." 

"How  does  that  strike  you?"  asked  Hewitt. 
"  Wilks  is  a  man  well  known  to  the  police — one  of 
the  most  accomplished  burglars  in  this  country,  in 
fact.  I  have  had  no  dealings  with  him  as  yet,  but 
I  found  means,  some  time  ago,  to  add  his  portrait 
to  my  little  collection,  in  case  I  might  want  it,  and 
to-day  it  has  been  quite  useful." 

The  thing  was  plain  now.     Wilks  must  have  been 


144  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

bringing  his  booty  to  town,  and  calculated  on 
getting  out  at  Chalk  Farm  and  thus  eluding  the 
watch  which  he  doubtless  felt  pretty  sure  would  be 
kept  (by  telegraphic  instruction)  at  Euston  for  sus- 
picious characters  arriving  from  the  direction  of 
Radcot.  His  transaction  with  Leamy  was  his  only 
possible  expedient  to  save  himself  from  being 
hopelessly  taken  with  the  swag  in  his  possession. 
The  paragraph  told  me  why  Leamy  had  waited  in 
vain  for  "Mr.  W."  in  the  cab. 

"  What  shall  you  do  now  ? "  I  asked. 

"  I  shall  go  to  the  Gold  Street  house  and' find  out 
what  I  can  as  soon  as  this  cab  turns  up." 

There  seemed  a  possibility  of  some  excitement 
in  the  adventure,  so  I  asked :  "Will  you  want  any 
help?" 

Hewitt  smiled.  "  I  think  I  can  get  through  it 
alone,"  he  said. 

"Then  may  I  come  to  look  on?"  I  said.  "Of 
course  I  don't  want  to  be  in  your  way,  and  the  re- 
sult of  the  business,  whatever  it  is,  will  be  to  your 
credit  alone.     Bat  I  am  curious." 

"  Come,  then,  by  all  means.  The  cab  will  be  a 
four-wheeler,  and  there  will  be  plenty  of  room." 

Gold  Street  was  a  short  street  of  private  houses 
of  very  fair  size  and  of  a  half -vanished  pretension 
to  gentility.  We  drove  slowly  through,  and  Leamy 
had  no  difficulty  in  pointing  out  the  house  wherein 
he  had  been  paid  five  pounds  for  carrying  a  bag. 
At  the  end  the  cab  turned  the  corner  and  stopped, 
while  Hewitt  wrote  a  short  note  to  an  official  of 
Scotland  Yard. 


THE  QUINTON  JEWEL  AFFAIR  145 

"Take  this  note,"  he  instructed  Leamy,  "to 
Scotland  Yard  in  the  cab,  and  then  go  home.  I 
will  pay  the  cabman  now." 

11 1  will,  sor,    An'  will  I  be  protected  1 " 

"  Oh,  yes !  Stay  at  home  for  the  rest  of  the  day, 
and  I  expect  you'll  be  left  alone  in  future.  Per- 
haps I  shall  have  something  to  tell  you  in  a  day 
or  two  ;  if  I  do,  I'll  send.     Good-by." 

The  cab  rolled  off,  and  Hewitt  and  I  strolled  back 
along  Gold  Street.  "I  think,"  Hewitt  said,  "we 
will  drop  in  on  Mr.  Hollams  for  a  few  minutes 
while  we  can.  In  a  few  hours  I  expect  the  police 
will  have  him,  and  his  house,  too,  if  they  attend 
promptly  to  my  note." 

"  Have  you  ever  seen  him  1 " 

"Not  to  my  knowledge,  though  I  may  know 
him  by  some  other  name.  Wilks  I  know  by  sight, 
though  he  doesn't  know  me." 

"What  shall  we  say?" 

"  That  will  depend  on  circumstances.  I  may  not 
get  my  cue  till  the  door  opens,  or  even  till  later. 
At  worst,  I  can  easily  apply  for  a  reference  as  to 
Leamy,  who,  you  remember,  is  looking  for  work." 

But  we  were  destined  not  to  make  Mr.  Hollams' s 
acquaintance,  after  all.  As  we  approached  the 
house  a  great  uproar  was  heard  from  the  lower  part 
giving  on  to  the  area,  and  suddenly  a  man,  hatless, 
and  with  a  sleeve  of  his  coat  nearly  torn  away, 
,burst  through  the  door  and  up  the  area  steps,  pur- 
sued by  two  others.  I  had  barely  time  to  observe 
that  one  of  the  pursuers  carried  a  revolver,  and  that 
both  hesitated  and  retired  on  seeing  that  several 
people  were  about  the  street,  when  Hewitt,  gripping 


146  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

my  arm  and  exclaiming:  "That's  our  man!" 
started  at  a  run  after  the  fugitive. 

We  turned  the  next  corner  and  saw  the  man 
thirty  yards  before  us,  walking,  and  pulling  up 
his  sleeve  at  the  shoulder,  so  as  to  conceal  the  rent. 
Plainly  he  felt  safe  from  further  molestation. 

"  That's  Sim  Wilks,"  Hewitt  explained,  as  we 
followed,  "  the  'juceof  a  foine  jintleman'  who  got 
Leamy  to  carry  his  bag,  and  the  man  who  knows 
where  the  Quinton  ruby  is,  unless  I  am  more  than 
usually  mistaken.  Don't  stare  after  him,  in  case 
he  looks  round.  Presently,  when  we  get  into  the 
busier  streets,  I  shall  have  a  little  chat  with  him." 

But  for  some  time  the  man  kept  to  the  back 
streets.  In  time,  however,  he  emerged  into  the 
Buckingham  Palace  Road,  and  we  saw  him  stop 
and  look  at  a  hat-shop.  But  after  a  general  look 
over  the  window  and  a  glance  in  at  the  door  he 
went  on. 

' '  Good  sign  ! ' '  observed  Hewitt ;  ' '  got  no  money 
with  him — makes  it  easier  for  us." 

In  a  little  while  Wilks  approached  a  small  crowd 
gathered  about  a  woman  fiddler.  Hewitt  touched 
my  arm,  and  a  few  quick  steps  took  us  past  our 
man  and  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  crowd.  When 
Wilks  emerged,  he  met  us  coming  in  the  opposite 
direction. 

"  What,  Sim  !  "  burst  out  Hewitt  with  apparent 
delight.  "I  haven't  piped  your  mug*  for  a 
stretch  f;  I  thought  you'd  fell 4  Where's  your 
cady?"§ 

Wilks  looked  astonished  and  suspicious.      "I 

*  Seen  your  face,    f  A  year.     %  Been  imprisoned.    §  Hat. 


THE  QUINTON  JEWEL  AFFAIR  147 

don't  know  you,"  lie  said.  "  You've  made  a  mis- 
take." 

Hewitt  laughed.  "  I'm  glad  you  don't  know 
me,"  he  said.  "If  you  don't,  I'm  pretty  sure  the 
reelers  *  won't.  I  think  I've  faked  my  mug  pretty 
well,  and  my  clobber,!  too.  Look  here :  I'll  stand 
you  a  new  cady.  Strange  blokes  don't  do 
that,  eh?" 

Wilks  was  still  suspicious.  "  I  don't  know  what 
you  mean,"  he  said.  Then,  after  a  pause,  he  added : 
*'  Who  are  you,  then  I " 

Hewitt  winked  and  screwed  his  face  genially 
aside.  "Hooky!"  he  said.  "I've  had  a  lucky 
touch i  and  I'm  Mr.  Smith  till  I've  melted  the 
pieces. §    You  come  and  damp  it." 

"I'm  off,"  Wilks  replied.  "Unless  you're  pal 
enough  to  lend  me  a  quid,"  he  added,  laughing. 

"I  am  that,"  responded  Hewitt,  plunging  his 
hand  in  his  pocket.  "I'm  flush,  my  boy,  flush, 
and  I've  been  wetting  it  pretty  well  to-day.  I  feel 
pretty  jolly  now,  and  I  shouldn't  wonder  if  I  went 
home  cannon. ||  Only  a  quid?  Have  two,  if  you 
want  'em — or  three ;  there's  plenty  more,  and 
you'll  do  the  same  for  me  some  day.  Here 
y'are." 

Hewitt  had,  of  a  sudden,  assumed  the  whole  ap- 
pearance, manners,  and  bearing  of  a  slightly  ele- 
vated rowdy.  Now  he  pulled  his  hand  from  his 
pocket  and  extended  it,  full  of  silver,  with  five  or 
six  sovereigns  interspersed,  toward  Wilks. 

"I'll  have  three  quid,"  Wilks  said  with  decision, 

*  Police.  f  Clothes.  t  Robbery. 

§  Spent  the  money.  1  Drunk. 


148  MAKTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOE 

taking  the  money ;  "  but  I'm  bio  wed  if  I  remember 
you.     Who' s  your  pal  ? ' ' 

Hewitt  jerked  his  head  in  my  direction,  winked, 
and  said  in  a  low  voice  :  M  He's  all  right.  Having  a 
rest.     Can't  stand  Manchester,"  and  winked  again. 

Wilks  laughed  and  nodded,  and  I  understood 
from  that  that  Hewitt  had  very  flatteringly  given 
me  credit  for  being  "  wanted"  by  the  Manchester 
police. 

We  lurched  into  a  public-house,  and  drank  a  very 
little  very  bad  whiskey  and  water.  Wilks  still  re- 
garded us  curiously,  and  I  could  see  him  again  and 
again  glancing  doubtfully  in  Hewitt' s  face.  But  the 
loan  of  three  pounds  had  largely  reassured  him. 
Presently  Hewitt  said : 

"How  about  our  old  pal  down  in  Gold  Street? 
Do  any  thing  with  him  now  i    Seen  him  lately  ? " 

Wilks  looked  up  at  the  ceiling  and  shook  his 
head. 

"  That's  a  good  job.  It  'ud  be  awkward  if  you 
were  about  there  to-day,  I  can  tell  you." 

"Why?" 

"Never  mind,  so  long  as  you're  not  there.  I 
know  something,  if  I  have  been  away.  I'm  glad 
I  haven't  had  any  truck  with  Gold  Street  lately, 
that's  all." 

11  D'you  mean  the  reelers  are  on  it  ? " 

Hewitt  looked  cautiously  over  his  shoulder, 
leaned  toward  Wilks,  and  said :  "  Look  here  :  this 
is  the  straight  tip.  I  know  this — I  got  it  from  the 
very  nark*  that's  given  the  show  away:  By  six 
o'clock  No.  8  Gold  Street  will  be  turned  inside  out, 
like  an  old  glove,  and  every  one  in  the  place  will 
*  Police  spy. 


THE  QUINTON  JEWEL  AFFAIR  149 

be "    He  finished  the  sentence  by  crossing  his 

wrists  like  a  handcuffed  man.  "  What's  more,"  he 
went  on,  uthey  know  all  about  what's  gone  on 
there  lately,  and  every-body  that's  been  in  or  out 
for  the  last  two  moons  f  will  be  wanted  particular— 
and  will  be  found,  I'm  told."  Hewitt  concluded 
with  a  confidential  frown,  a  nod,  and  a  wink,  and 
took  another  mouthful  of  whiskey.  Then  he  added, 
as  an  after-thought:  "So  I'm  glad  you  haven't 
been  there  lately." 

Wilks  looked  in  Hewitt's  face  and  asked:  "Is 
that  straight?" 

"  Is  it  % "  replied  Hewitt  with  emphasis.  "  You 
go  and  have  a  look,  if  you  ain't  afraid  of  being 
smugged  yourself.  Only  /  sha'n't  go  near  No.  8 
just  yet — I  know  that." 

Wilks  fidgeted,  finished  his  drink,  and  ex- 
pressed his  intention  of  going.     "  Very  well,  if  you 

iconH  have  another "  replied  Hewitt.      But  he 

had  gone. 

"  Good  ! "  said  Hewitt,  moving  toward  the  door ; 
"he  has  suddenly  developed  a  hurry.  I  shall 
keep  him  in  sight,  but  you  had  better  take  a  cab 
and  go  straight  to  Euston.  Take  tickets  to  the 
nearest  station  to  Kadcot, — Kedderby,  I  think  it 
is,— and  look  up  the  train  arrangements.  Don't 
show  yourself  too  much,  and  keep  an  eye  on  the 
entrance.  Unless  I  am  mistaken,  Wilks  will  be 
there  pretty  soon,  and  I  shall  be  on  his  heels.  If 
I  am  wrong,  then  you  won't  see  the  end  of  the  fun, 
that's  all." 

Hewitt  hurried  after  Wilks,  and  I  took  the  cab 
and  did  as  he  wished.    There  was  an  hour  and  a 

f  Months. 


150  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

few  minutes,  I  found,  to  wait  for  the  next  train, 
and  that  time  I  occupied  as  best  I  might,  keeping  a 
sharp  lookout  across  the  quadrangle.  Barely  five 
minutes  before  the  train  was  to  leave,  and  just  as  I 
was  beginning  to  think  about  the  time  of  the  next,  a 
cab  dashed  up  and  Hewitt  alighted.  He  hurried 
in,  found  me,  and  drew  me  aside  into  a  recess,  just 
as  another  cab  arrived. 

"  Here  he  is,"  Hewitt  said.  u  I  followed  him  as 
far  as  Euston  Road  and  then  got  my  cabby  to 
spurt  up  and  pass  him.  He  has  had  his  mustache 
shaved  off,  and  I  feared  you  mightn't  recognize 
him,  and  so  let  him  see  you." 

From  our  retreat  we  could  see  Wilks  hurry 
into  the  booking-office.  We  watched  him  through 
to  the  platform  and  followed.  He  wasted  no 
time,  but  made  the  best  of  his  way  to  a  third- 
class  carriage  at  the  extreme  fore  end  of  the 
train.  i 

"We  have  three  minutes,"  Hewitt  said,  "and 
every  thing  depends  on  his  not  seeing  us  get  into 
this  train.  Take  this  cap.  Fortunately,  we're 
both  in  tweed  suits." 

He  had  bought  a  couple  of  tweed  cricket  caps, 
and  these  we  assumed,  sending  our  "  bowler"  hats 
to  the  cloak-room.  Hewitt  also  put  on  a  pair  of 
blue  spectacles,  and  then  walked  boldly  up  the 
platform  and  entered  a  first-class  carriage.  I  fol- 
lowed close  on  his  heels,  in  such  a  manner  that  a 
person  looking  from  the  fore  end  of  the  train  would 
be  able  to  see  but  very  little  of  me. 

"So  far  so  good,"  said  Hewitt,  when  we  were 
seated  and  the  train  began  to  move  off,    "I  must 


THE  QUINTON  JEWEL  AFFAIR  151 

keep  a  lookout  at  each  station,  in  case  onr  friend 
goes  off  unexpectedly." 

"  I  waited  some  time,"  I  said  ;  "  where  did  you 
both  get  to?" 

"  First  he  went  and  bought  that  hat  he  is  wear- 
ing. Then  he  walked  some  distance,  dodging  the 
main  thoroughfares  and  keeping  to  the  back  streets 
in  a  way  that  made  following  difficult,  till  he  came 
to  a  little  tailor's  shop.  There  he  entered  and  came 
out  in  a  quarter  of  an  hour  with  his  coat  mended. 
This  was  in  a  street  in  Westminster.  Presently  he 
worked  his  way  up  to  Tothill  Street,  and  there  he 
plunged  into  a  barber's  shop.  I  took  a  cautious 
peep  at  the  window,  saw  two  or  three  other  cus- 
tomers also  waiting,  and  took  the  opportunity  to 
rush  over  to  a  '  notion '  shop  and  buy  these  blue 
spectacles,  and  to  a  hatter's  for  these  caps — of 
which  I  regret  to  observe  that  yours  is  too  big.  He 
was  rather  a  long  while  in  the  barber's,  and  finally 
came  out  as  you  saw  him,  with  no  mustache.  This 
was  a  good  indication.  It  made  it  plainer  than 
ever  that  he  had  believed  my  warning  as  to  the 
police  descent  on  the  house  in  Gold  Street  and  its 
frequenters  ;  which  was  right  and  proper,  for  what 
I  told  him  was  quite  true.  The  rest  you  know. 
He  cabbed  to  the  station,  and  so  did  I." 

"And  now,  perhaps,"  I  said,  "after  giving  me 
the  character  of  a  thief  wanted  by  the  Manchester 
police,  forcibly  depriving  me  of  my  hat  in  exchange 
for  this  all-too-large  cap,  and  rushing  me  off  out  of 
London  without  any  definite  idea  of  when  I'm 
coming  back,  perhaps  you'll  tell  me  what  we're 
after?" 


152 

Hewitt  laughed.  "  You  wanted  to  join  in,  you 
know,"  he  said,  "and  you  must  take  your  luck  as 
it  comes.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  is  scarcely 
any  thing  in  my  profession  so  uninteresting  and  so 
difficult  as  this  watching  and  following  business. 
Often  it  lasts  for  weeks.  When  we  alight,  we  shall 
have  to  follow  Wilks  again,  under  the  most  diffi- 
cult possible  conditions,  in  the  country.  There  it 
is  often  quite  impossible  to  follow  a  man  unob- 
served. It  is  only  because  it  is  the  only  way  that  I 
am  undertaking  it  now.  As  to  what  we're  after, 
you  know  that  as  well  as  I:  the  Quinton  ruby. 
Wilks  has  hidden  it,  and  without  his  help  it  would 
be  impossible  to  find  it.  We  are  following  him  so 
that  he  will  find  it  for  us." 

6 '  He  must  have  hidden  it,  I  suppose,  to  avoid 
sharing  with  Hollams  I " 

"Of  course,  and  availed  himself  of  the  fact  of 
Leamy  having  carried  the  bag  to  direct  Hollams' s 
suspicion  to  him.  Hollams  found  out,  by  his 
repeated  searches  of  Leamy  and  his  lodgings, 
that  this  was  wrong,  and  this  morning  evidently 
tried  to  persuade  the  ruby  out  of  Wilks' s  pos- 
session with  a  revolver.  We  saw  the  upshot  of 
that." 

Kedderby  Station  was  about  forty  miles  out.  At 
each  intermediate  stopping  station  Hewitt  watched 
earnestly,  but  Wilks  remained  in  the  train. 
"What  I  fear,"  Hewitt  observed,  "is  that  at  Ked- 
derby he  may  take  a  fly.  To  stalk  a  man  on  foot 
in  the  country  is  difficult  enough  ;  but  you  eanH 
follow  one  vehicle  in  another  without  being  spotted. 
But  if  he's  so  smart  as  I  think,  he  won't  do   it. 


THE  QUINTON   JEWEL   AFFAIR  153 

A  man  travelling  in  a  fly  is  noticed  and  remembered 
in  these  places." 

He  did  not  take  a  fly.  At  Kedderby  we  saw  him 
jump  out  quickly  and  hasten  from  the  station. 
The  train  stood  for  a  few  minutes,  and  he  was 
out  of  the  station  before  we  alighted.  Through  the 
railings  behind  the  platform  we  could  see  him 
walking  briskly  away  to  the  right.  From  the 
ticket  collector  we  ascertained  that  Radcot  lay  in 
that  direction,  three  miles  off. 

To  my  dying  day  I  shall  never  forget  that  three 
miles.  They  seemed  three  hundred.  In  the  still 
country  almost  every  footfall  seemed  audible  for 
any  distance,  and  in  the  long  stretches  of  road  one 
could  see  half-a-mile  behind  or  before.  Hewitt  was 
cool  and  patient,  but  I  got  into  a  fever  of  worry, 
excitement,  want  of  breath,  and  back-ache.  At 
first,  for  a  little,  the  road  zig-zagged,  and  then  the 
chase  was  comparatively  easy.  We  waited  behind 
one  bend  till  Wilks  had  passed  the  next,  and  then 
hurried  in  his  trail,  treading  in  the  dustiest  parts 
of  the  road  or  on  the  side  grass,  when  there  was 
any,  to  deaden  the  sound  of  our  steps.  At  the  last 
of  these  short  bends  we  looked  ahead  and  saw  a 
long,  white  stretch  of  road  with  the  dark  form  of 
Wilks  a  couple  of  hundred  yards  in  front.  It 
would  never  do  to  let  him  get  to  the  end  of  this 
great  stretch  before  following,  as  he  might  turn  off 
at  some  branch  road  out  of  sight  and  be  lost.  So 
wre  jumped  the  hedge  and  scuttled  along  as  we  best 
might  on  the  other  side,  with  backs  bent,  and  our 
feet  often  many  inches  deep  in  wet  clay.  We  had 
to  make  continual  stoppages  to  listen  and  peep 


154  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

out,  and  on  one  occasion,  happening,  incautiously, 
to  stand  erect,  looking  after  him,  I  was  much  star- 
tled to  see  Wilks  with  his  face  toward  me,  gazing 
down  the  road.  I  ducked  like  lightning,  and,  for- 
tunately, he  seemed  not  to  have  observed  me,  but 
went  on  as  before.  He  had  probably  heard  some 
slight  noise,  but  looked  straight  along  the  road  for 
its  explanation,  instead  of  over  the  hedge.  At 
hilly  parts  of  the  road  there  was  extreme  difficulty  ; 
indeed,  on  approaching  a  rise  it  was  usually  neces- 
sary to  lie  down  under  the  hedge  till  Wilks  had 
passed  the  toi),  since  from  the  higher  ground  he 
could  have  seen  us  easily.  This  improved  neither 
my  clothes,  my  comfort,  nor  my  temper.  Luckily 
we  never  encountered  the  difficulty  of  a  long  and 
high  wall,  but  once  we  were  nearly  betrayed  by  a 
man  who  shouted  to  order  us  off  his  field. 

At  last  we  saw,  just  ahead,  the  square  tower  of 
an  old  church,  set  about  with  thick  trees.  Opposite 
this  Wilks  paused,  looked  irresolutely  up  and 
down  the  road,  and  then  went  on.  We  crossed  the 
road,  availed  ourselves  of  the  opposite  hedge,  and 
followed.  The  village  was  to  be  seen  some  three 
or  four  hundred  yards  farther  along  the  road, 
and  toward  it  Wilks  sauntered  slowly.  Before  he 
actually  reached  the  houses  he  stopped  and  turned 
back. 

"The  churchyard! "  exclaimed  Hewitt  under 
his  breath.     "  Lie  close  and  let  him  pass." 

Wilks  reached  the  churchyard  gate,  and  again 
looked  irresolutely  about  him.  At  that  moment  a 
party  of  children,  who  had  been  playing  among 
the  graves,  came  chattering  and  laughing  toward 


THE  QUINT0N  JEWEL  AFFAIR  155 

and  out  of  the  gate,  and  Wilks  walked  hastily 
away  again,  this  time  in  the  opposite  direction. 

" That's  the  place,  clearly,"  Hewitt  said.  "We 
must  slip  across  quietly,  as  soon  as  he's  far  enough 
down  the  road.     Now ! " 

We  hurried  stealthily  across,  through  the  gate, 
and  into  the  churchyard,  where  Hewitt  threw  his 
blue  spectacles  away.  It  was  now  nearly  eight  in 
the  evening,  and  the  sun  was  setting.  Once  again 
Wilks  approached  the  gate,  and  did  not  enter,  be- 
cause a  laborer  passed  at  the  time.  Then  he  came 
back  and  slipped  through. 

The  grass  about  the  graves  was  long,  and  under 
the  trees  it  was  already  twilight.  Hewitt  and  I, 
two  or  three  yards  apart,  to  avoid  falling  over  one 
another  in  case  of  sudden  movement,  watched  from 
behind  gravestones.  The  form  of  Wilks  stood  out 
large  and  black  against  the  fading  light  in  the  west 
as  he  stealthily  approached  through  the  long  grass. 
A  light  cart  came  clattering  along  the  road,  and 
Wilks  dropped  at  once  and  crouched  on  his  knees 
till  it  had  passed.  Then,  staring  warily  about  him, 
he  made  straight  for  the  stone  behind  which  Hewitt 
waited. 

I  saw  Hewitt's  dark  form  swing  noiselessly  round 
to  the  other  side  of  the  stone.  Wilks  passed  on 
and  dropped  on  his  knee  beside  a  large,  weather- 
worn slab  that  rested  on  a  brick  understructure  a 
foot  or  so  high.  The  long  grass  largely  hid  the 
bricks,  and  among  it  Wilks  plunged  his  hand,  feel- 
ing along  the  brick  surface.  Presently  he  drew  out 
a  loose  brick,  and  laid  it  on  the  slab.  He  felt  again 
in  the  place,  and  brought  forth  a  small  dark  object. 


156  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

I  saw  Hewitt  rise  erect  in  the  gathering  dusk,  and 
with  extended  arm  step  noiselessly  toward  the 
stooping  man.  Wilks  made  a  motion  to  place  the 
dark  object  in  his  pocket,  but  checked  himself,  and 
opened  what  appeared  to  be  a  lid,  as  though  to 
make  sure  of  the  safety  of  the  contents.  The  last 
light,  straggling  under  the  trees,  fell  on  a  brilliantly 
sparkling  object  within,  and  like  a  flash  Hewitt's 
hand  shot  over  Wilks' s  shoulder  and  snatched  the 
jewel. 

The  man  actually  screamed — one  of  those  curious 
sharp  little  screams  that  one  may  hear  from  a 
woman  very  suddenly  alarmed.  But  he  sprang  at 
Hewitt  like  a  cat,  only  to  meet  a  straight  drive  of 
the  fist  that  stretched  him  on  his  back  across  the 
slab.  I  sprang  from  behind  my  stone,  and  helped 
Hewitt  to  secure  his  wrists  with  a  pocket-hand- 
kerchief. Then  we  marched  him,  struggling  and 
swearing,  to  the  village. 

When,  in  the  lights  of  the  village,  he  recognized 
us,  he  had  a  perfect  fit  of  rage,  but  afterward  he 
calmed  down,  and  admitted  that  it  was  a  "very 
clean  cop."  There  was  some  difficulty  in  finding 
the  village  constable,  and  Sir  Valentine  Quinton 
was  dining  out  and  did  not  arrive  for  at  least  an 
hour.     In  the  interval  Wilks  grew  communicative. 

"  How  much  d'ye  think  I'll  get  ? "  he  asked. 

"Can't  guess,"  Hewitt  replied.  "And  as  we 
shall  probably  have  to  give  evidence,  you'll  be  giv- 
ing yourself  away  if  you  talk  too  much." 

"Oh,  I  don't  care;  that  '11  make  no  difference. 
It's  a  fair  cop,  and  I'm  in  for  it.  You  got  at  me 
nicely,   lending  me  three  quid.     I  never  knew  a 


THE  QUINTON  JEWEL   AFFAIR  157 

reeler  do  that  before.  That  blinded  me.  But  was 
it  kid  about  Gold  Street  ? " 

"No,  it  wasn't.  Mr.  Hollams  is  safely  shut  up 
by  this  time,  I  expect,  and  you  are  avenged  for 
your  little  trouble  with  him  this  afternoon." 

"  What  did  you  know  about  that !  Well,  you've 
got  it  up  nicely  for  me,  I  must  say.  S'pose  you've 
been  following  me  all  the  time  t " 

"Well,  yes;  I  haven't  been  far  off.  I  guessed 
you'd  want  to  clear  out  of  town  if  Hollams  was 
taken,  and  I  knew  this  " — Hewitt  tapped  his  breast 
pocket — "  was  what  you'd  take  care  to  get  hold  of 
first.  You  hid  it,  of  course,  because  you  knew 
that  Hollams  would  probably  have  you  searched  for 
it  if  he  got  suspicious  \ " 

"Yes,  he  did,  too.  Two  blokes  went  over  my 
pockets  one  night,  and  somebody  got  into  my  room. 
But  I  expected  that,  Hollams  is  such  a  greedy  pig. 
Once  he's  got  you  under  his  thumb  he  don't  give 
you  half  your  makings,  and,  if  you  kick,  he'll  have 
you  smugged.  So  that  I  wasn't  going  to  give  him 
that  if  I  could  help  it.  I  s'pose  it  ain't  any  good 
asking  how  you  got  put  on  to  our  mob  % " 

"  No,"  said  Hewitt,  "  it  isn't." 

We  didn't  get  back  till  the  next  day,  staying  for 
the  night,  despite  an  inconvenient  want  of  requi- 
sites, at  the  Hall.  There  were,  in  fact,  no  late  trains. 
We  told  Sir  Valentine  the  story  of  the  Irishman, 
much  to  his  amusement. 

"Leamy's  tale  sounded  unlikely,  of  course," 
Hewitt  said,  "but  it  was  noticeable  that  every  one 
of  his  misfortunes  pointed  in  the  same  direction — 


158  MAKTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

that  certain  persons  were  tremendously  anxious  to 
get  at  something  they  supposed  he  had.  When  he 
spoke  of  his  adventure  with  the  bag,  I  at  once  re- 
membered Wilks's  arrest  and  subsequent  release. 
It  was  a  curious  coincidence,  to  say  the  least,  that 
this  should  happen  at  the  very  station  to  which  the 
proceeds  of  this  robbery  must  come,  if  they  came 
to  London  at  all,  and  on  the  day  following  the  rob- 
bery itself.  Kedderby  is  one  of  the  few  stations  on 
this  line  where  no  trains  would  stop  after  the  time 
of  the  robbery,  so  that  the  thief  would'  have  to 
wait  till  the  next  day  to  get  back.  Leamy' s  recog- 
nition of  Wilks's  portrait  made  me  feel  pretty  cer- 
tain. Plainly,  he  had  carried  stolen  property  ;  the 
poor,  innocent  fellow's  conversation  with  Hollams 
showed  that,  as,  in  fact,  did  the  sum,  five  pounds, 
paid  to  him  by  way  of  'regulars,'  or  customary 
toll,  from  the  plunder  for  services  of  carriage.  Hol- 
lams obviously  took  Leamy  for  a  criminal  friend  of 
Wilks's,  because  of  his  use  of  the  thieves'  expres- 
sions 'sparks'  and  'regulars,'  and  suggested,  in 
terms  which  Leamy  misunderstood,  that  he  should 
sell  any  plunder  he  might  obtain  to  himself,  Hollams. 
Altogether  it  would  have  been  very  curious  if  the 
plunder  were  not  that  from  Radcot  Hall,  especially 
as  no  other  robbery  had  been  reported  at  the  time. 
"  Now,  among  the  jewels  taken,  only  one  was  of 
a  very  pre-eminent  value — the  famous  ruby.  It 
was  scarcely  likely  that  Hollams  would  go  to  so 
much  trouble  and  risk,  attempting  to  drug,  injur- 
ing, waylaying,  and  burgling  the  rooms  of  the  unfor- 
tunate Leamy,  for  a  jewel  of  small  value — for  any 
jewel,  in  fact,  but  the  ruby.     So  that  I  felt  a  pretty 


THE  QUINTON  JEWEL  AFFAIR  159 

strong  presumption,  at  all  events,  that  it  was  the 
ruby  Hollaras  was  after.  Leamy  had  not  had  it,  I 
was  convinced,  from  his  tale  and  his  manner,  and 
from  what  I  judged  of  the  man  himself.  The  only 
other  person  was  Wilks,  and  certainly  he  had  a 
temptation  to  keep  this  to  himself,  and  avoid,  if 
possible,  sharing  with  his  London  director,  or  prin- 
cipal ;  while  the  carriage  of  the  bag  by  the  Irish- 
man gave  him  a  capital  opportunity  to  put  suspicion 
on  him,  with  the  results  seen.  The  most  daring  of 
Hollams's  attacks  on  Leamy  was  doubtless  the 
attempted  maiming  or  killing  at  the  railway  station, 
so  as  to  be  able,  in  the  character  of  a  medical  man, 
to  search  his  pockets.  He  was  probably  desperate 
at  the  time,  having,  I  have  no  doubt,  been  follow- 
ing Leamy  about  all  day  at  the  Crystal  Palace 
without  finding  an  opportunity  to  get  at  his  pockets. 

"The  struggle  and  flight  of  Wilks  from  Hol- 
lams's confirmed  my  previous  impressions.  Hoi- 
lams,  finally  satisfied  that  very  morning  that  Leamy 
certainly  had  not  the  jewel,  either  on  his  person  or 
at  his  lodging,  and  knowing,  from  having  so  closely 
watched  him,  that  he  had  been  nowhere  where  it 
could  be  disposed  of,  concluded  that  Wilks  was 
cheating  him,  and  attempted  to  extort  the  ruby 
from  him  by  the  aid  of  another  ruffian  and  a  pistol. 
The  rest  of  my  way  was  plain.  Wilks,  I  knew, 
would  seize  the  opportunity  of  Hollams's  being 
safely  locked  up  to  get  at  and  dispose  of  the  ruby. 
I  supplied  him  with  funds  and  left  him  to  lead 
us  to  his  hiding-place.  He  did  it,  and  I  think 
that's  all." 

"He  must  have  walked  straight  away  from  my 


160 

house  to  the  churchyard,"  Sir  Valentine  remarked, 
"  to  hide  that  pendant.     That  was  fairly  cool." 

"Only  a  cool  hand  could  carry  out  such  a  rob- 
bery single-handed,"  Hewitt  answered.  "I  expect 
his  tools  were  in  the  bag  that  Leamy  carried,  as 
well  as  the  jewels.  They  must  have  been  a  small 
and  neat  set." 

They  were.  We  ascertained  on  our  return  to 
town  the  next  day  that  the  bag,  with  all  its  con- 
tents intact,  including  the  tools,  had  been  taken  by 
the  police  at  their  surprise  visit  to  No:  8  Gold 
Street,  as  well  as  much  other  stolen  property.  Hol- 
lands and  Wilks  each  got  very  wholesome  doses  of 
penal  servitude,  to  the  intense  delight  of  Mick 
Leamy.  Leamy  himself,  by-the-bye,  is  still  to  be 
seen,  clad  in  a  noble  uniform,  guarding  the  door  of 
a  well-known  London  restaurant.  He  has  not  had 
any  more  five-pound  notes  for  carrying  bags,  but 
knows  London  too  well  now  to  expect  it. 


VI.    THE  STANWAY  CAMEO  MYSTERY 

It  is  now  a  fair  number  of  years  back  since  the 
loss  of  the  famous  Stanway  Cameo  made  its  sensa- 
tion, and  the  only  person  who  had  the  least  inter- 
est in  keeping  the  real  facts  of  the  case  secret  has 
now  been  dead  for  some  time,  leaving  neither  rela- 
tives nor  other  representatives.  Therefore  no  harm 
will  be  done  in  making  the  inner  history  of  the  case 
public ;  on  the  contrary,  it  will  afford  an  oppor- 
tunity of  vindicating  the  professional  reputation  of 
Hewitt,  who  is  supposed  to  have  completely  failed 
to  make  any  thing  of  the  mystery  surrounding  the 
case.  At  the  present  time  connoisseurs  in  ancient 
objects  of  art  are  often  heard  regretfully  to  wonder 
whether  the  wonderful  cameo,  so  suddenly  dis- 
covered and  so  quickly  stolen,  will  ever  again  be 
visible  to  the  public  eye.  Now  this  question  need 
be  asked  no  longer. 

The  cameo,  as  may  be  remembered  from  the 
many  descriptions  imblished  at  the  time,  was  said 
to  be  absolutely  the  finest  extant.  It  was  a  sar- 
donyx of  three  strata — one  of  those  rare  sardonyx 
cameos  in  which  it  has  been  possible  for  the  artist 
to  avail  himself  of  three  different  colors  of  superim- 
posed stone — the  lowest  for  the  ground  and  the  two 
others  for  the  middle  and  high  relief  of  the  design. 
In  size  it  was,  for  a  cameo,  immense,  measuring 
seven  and  a  half  inches  by  nearly  six.     In  subject 

161 


162  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

it  was  similar  to  the  renowned  Gonzaga  Cameo, — 
now  the  property  of  the  Czar  of  Russia, — a  male 
and  a  female  head  with  imperial  insignia ;  but  in 
this  case  supposed  to  represent  Tiberius  Claudius 
and  Messalina.  Experts  considered  it  probably  to 
be  the  work  of  Athenion,  a  famous  gem -cutter  of 
the  first  Christian  century,  whose  most  notable 
other  work  now  extant  is  a  smaller  cameo,  with  a 
mythological  subject,  preserved  in  the  Vatican. 

The  Stan  way  Cameo  had  been  discovered  in  an 
obscure  Italian  village  by  one  of  those  travelling 
agents  who  scour  all  Europe  for  valuable  antiquities 
and  objects  of  art.  This  man  had  hurried  imme- 
diately to  London  with  his  prize,  and  sold  it  to  Mr. 
Claridge  of  St.  James's  Street,  eminent  as  a  dealer  in 
such  objects.  Mr.  Claridge,  recognizing  the  impor- 
tance and  value  of  the  article,  lost  no  opportunity 
of  making  its  existence  known,  and  very  soon  the 
Claudius  Cameo,  as  it  was  at  first  usually  called, 
was  as  famous  as  any  in  the  world.  Many  experts 
in  ancient  art  examined  it,  and  several  large  bids 
were  made  for  its  purchase.  In  the  end  it  was 
bought  by  the  Marquis  of  Stan  way  for  five  thou- 
sand pounds  for  the  purpose  of  presentation  to  the 
British  Museum.  The  marquis  kept  the  cameo  at 
his  town  house  for  a  few  days,  showing  it  to  his 
friends,  and  then  returned  it  to  Mr.  Claridge  to  be 
finally  and  carefully  cleaned  before  passing  into  the 
national  collection.  Two  nights  after  Mr.  Clar- 
idge's  premises  were  broken  into  and  the  cameo 
stolen. 

Such,  in  outline,  was  the  generally  known  history 
of  the  Stan  way  Cameo.    The  circumstances  of  the 


The  stanway  cameo  mystery  163 

burglary  in  detail  were  these  :  Mr.  Claridge  had 
himself  been  the  last  to  leave  the  premises  at  about 
eight  in  the  evening,  at  dusk,  and  had  locked  the 
small  side  door  as  usual.  His  assistant,  Mr.  Cutler, 
had  left  an  hour  and  a  half  earlier.  When  Mr. 
Claridge  left,  every  thing  was  in  order,  and  the 
policeman  on  fixed-point  duty  just  opposite,  who 
bade  Mr.  Claridge  good-evening  as  he  left,  saw 
nothing  suspicious  during  the  rest  of  his  term  of 
duty,  nor  did  his  successors  at  the  point  through- 
out the  night. 

In  the  morning,  however,  Mr.  Cutler,  the  assist- 
ant, who  arrived  first,  soon  after  nine  o'clock,  at 
once  perceived  that  something  unlooked-for  had 
happened.  The  door,  of  which  he  had  a  key,  was 
still  fastened,  and  had  not  been  touched  ;  but  in  the 
room  behind  the  shop  Mr.  Claridge' s  private  desk 
had  been  broken  open,  and  the  contents  turned  out 
in  confusion.  The  door  leading  on  to  the  staircase 
had  also  been  forced.  Proceeding  up  the  stairs, 
Mr.  Cutler  found  another  door  open,  leading  from 
the  top  landing  to  a  small  room  ;  this  door  had  been 
opened  by  the  simple  expedient  of  unscrewing  and 
taking  off  the  lock,  which  had  been  on  the  inside. 
In  the  ceiling  of  this  room  was  a  trap-door,  and  this 
was  six  Or  eight  inches  open,  the  edge  resting  on 
the  half-wrenched-off  bolt,  which  had  been  torn 
away  when  the  trap  was  levered  open  from  the 
outside. 

Plainly,  then,  this  was  the  path  of  the  thief  or 
thieves.  Entrance  had  been  made  through  the 
trap-door,  two  more  doors  had  been  opened,  and 
then  the  desk  had  been  ransacked.     Mr.  Cutler 


164  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

afterward  explained  that  at  this  time  he  had  no 
precise  idea  what  had  been  stolen,  and  did  not 
know  where  the  cameo  had  been  left  on  the  pre- 
vious evening.  Mr.  Claridge  had  himself  under- 
taken the  cleaning,  and  had  been  engaged  on  it, 
the  assistant  said,  when  he  left. 

There  was  no  doubt,  however,  after  Mr.  Claridge' s 
arrival  at  ten  o'clock — the  cameo  was  gone.  Mr. 
Claridge,  utterly  confounded  at  his  loss,  explained 
incoherently,  and  with  curses  on  his  own  careless- 
ness, that  he  had  locked  the  precious  article  in  his 
desk  on  relinquishing  work  on  it  the  previous  even- 
ing, feeling  rather  tired,  and  not  taking  the  trouble 
to  carry  it  as  far  as  the  safe  in  another  part  of  the 
house. 

The  police  were  sent  for  at  once,  of  course,  and 
every  investigation  made,  Mr.  Claridge  offering  a 
reward  of  five  hundred  pounds  for  the  recovery 
of  the  cameo.  The  affair  was  scribbled  of  at 
large  in  the  earliest  editions  of  the  evening 
^papers,  and  by  noon  all  the  world  was  aware 
of  the  extraordinary  theft  of  the  Stanway  Cameo, 
and  many  people  were  discussing  the  probabilities 
of  the  case,  with  very  indistinct  ideas  of  what  a 
sardonyx  cameo  precisely  was. 

It  was  in  the  afternoon  of  this  day  that  Lord 
Stanway  called  on  Martin  Hewitt.  The  marquis 
was  a  tall,  upstanding  man  of  spare  figure  and 
active  habits,  well  known  as  a  member  of  learned 
societies  and  a  great  patron  of  art.  He  hurried  into 
Hewitt's  private  room  as  soon  as  his  name  had  been 
announced,  and,  as  soon  as  Hewitt  had  given  him 
a  chair,  plunged  into  business. 


THE  STANWAY  CAMEO  MYSTEEY  165 

"  Probably  you  already  guess  my  business  with 
you,  Mr.  Hewitt — you  have  seen  the  early  evening 
papers  ?  Just  so ;  then  I  needn't,  tell  you  again 
what  you  already  know.  My  cameo  is  gone,  and  I 
badly  want  it  back.  Of  course  the  police  are  hard 
at  work  at  Claridge's,  but  I'm  not  quite  satisfied. 
I  have  been  there  myself  for  two  or  three  hours, 
and  can't  see  that  they  know  any  more  about  it 
than  I  do  myself.  Then,  of  course,  the  police, 
naturally  and  properly  enough  from  their  point  of 
view,  look  first  to  find  the  criminal,  regarding  the 
recovery  of  the  property  almost  as  a  secondary  con- 
sideration. Now,  from  my  point  of  view,  the  chief 
consideration  is  the  property.  Of  course  I  want 
the  thief  caught,  if  possible,  and  properly  punished  ; 
but  still  more  I  want  the  cameo." 

"  Certainly  it  is  a  considerable  loss.  Five  thou- 
sand pounds " 

"  Ah,  but  don't  misunderstand  me  !  It  isn't  the 
monetary  value  of  the  thing  that  I  regret.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  I  am  indemnified  for  that  already. . 
Claridge  has  behaved  most  honorably — more  than 
honorably.  Indeed,  the  first  intimation  I  had  of 
the  loss  was  a  check  from  him  for  five  thousand 
pounds,  with  a  letter  assuring  me  that  the  restora- 
tion to  me  of  the  amount  I  had  paid  was  the  least 
he  could  do  to  repair  the  result  of  what  he  called 
his  unpardonable  carelessness.  Legally,  I'm  not 
sure  that  I  could  demand  any  thing  of  him,  unless  I 
could  prove  very  flagrant  neglect  indeed  to  guard 
against  theft." 

"  Then  I  take  it,  Lord  Stan  way,"  Hewitt  observed, 
"  that  you  much  prefer  the  cameo  to  the  money  ? " 


166  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

"  Certainly.  Else  I  should  never  have  been  will- 
ing to  pay  the  money  for  the  cameo.  It  was  an 
enormous  price, — perhaps  much  above  the  market 
value,  even  for  such  a  valuable  thing, — but  I  was 
particularly  anxious  that  it  should  not  go  out  of 
the  country.  Our  public  collections  here  are  not 
so  fortunate  as  they  should  be  in  the  possession  of 
the  very  finest  examples  of  that  class  of  work.  In 
short,  I  had  determined  on  the  cameo,  and,  fortu- 
nately, happen  to  be  able  to  carry  out  determina- 
tions of  that  sort  without  regarding  an  extra  thou- 
sand pounds  or  so  as  an  obstacle.  So  that,  you  see, 
what  I  want  is  not  the  value,  but  the  thing  itself. 
Indeed,  I  don't  think  I  can  possibly  keep  the  money 
Claridge  has  sent  me  ;  the  affair  is  more  his  misfor- 
tune than  his  fault.  But  I  shall  say  nothing  about 
returning  it  for  a  little  while  ;  it  may  possibly  have 
the  effect  of  sharpening  every-body  in  the  search." 

"  Just  so.  Do  I  understand  that  you  would  like 
me  to  look  into  the  case  independently,  on  your 
behalf?" 

"  Exactly.  I  want  you,  if  you  can,  to  approach 
the  matter  entirely  from  my  point  of  view — your 
sole  object  being  to  find  the  cameo.  Of  course,  if 
you  happen  on  the  thief  as  well,  so  much  the  bet- 
ter. Perhaps,  after  all,  looking  for  the  one  is  the 
same  thing  as  looking  for  the  other? " 

"Not  always  ;  but  usually  it  is,  of  course  ;  even 
if  they  are  not  together,  they  certainly  have  been  at 
one  time,  and  to  have  one  is  a  very  long  step  toward 
having  the  other.  Now,  to  begin  with,  is  any  body 
suspected?" 

"Well,  the  police  are  reserved,  but  I  believe  the 


THE  STAN  WAY  CAMEO  MYSTERY  167 

fact  is  they've  nothing  to  say.  Claridge  won't 
admit  that  he  suspects  any  one,  though  he  believes 
that  whoever  it  was  must  have  watched  him  yes- 
terday evening  through  the  back  window  of  his 
room,  and  must  have  seen  him  put  the  cameo  away 
in  his  desk  ;  because  the  thief  would  seem  to  have 
gone  straight  to  the  place.  But  I  half  fancy  that, 
in  his  inner  mind,  he  is  inclined  to  suspect  one  of 
two  people.  You  see,  a  robbery  of  this  sort  is 
different  from  others.  That  cameo  would  never  be 
stolen,  I  imagine,  with  the  view  of  its  being  sold — 
it  is  much  too  famous  a  thing  ;  a  man  might  as  well 
walk  about  offering  to  sell  the  Tower  of  London. 
There  are  only  a  very  few  people  who  buy  such 
things,  and  every  one  of  them  knows  all  about  it. 
No  dealer  would  touch  it ;  he  could  never  even 
show  it,  much  less  sell  it,  without  being  called  to 
account.  So  that  it  realty  seems  more  likely  that 
it  has  been  taken  by  somebody  who  wishes  to  keep 
it  for  mere  love  of  the  thing, — a  collector,  in  fact, — 
who  would  then  have  to  keep  it  secretly  at  home, 
and  never  let  a  soul  besides  himself  see  it,  living  in 
the  consciousness  that  at  his  death  it  must  be  found 
and  this  theft  known  ;  unless,  indeed,  an  ordinary 
vulgar  burglar  has  taken  it  without  knowing  its 
value." 

"That  isn't  likely,"  Hewitt  replied.  "  An  ordi- 
nary burglar,  ignorant  of  its  value,  wouldn't  have 
gone  straight  to  the  cameo  and  have  taken  it  in 
preference  to  many  other  things  of  more  apparent 
worth,  which  must  be  lying  near  in  such  a  place  as 
Claridge's." 

"True — I  suppose  he  wouldn't.     Although  the 


168 

police  seem  to  think  that  the  breaking  in  is  clearly 
the  work  of  a  regular  criminal — from  the  jimmy- 
marks,  you  know,  and  so  on." 

"Well,  but  what  of  the  two  people  you  think 
Mr.  Claridge  suspects  8 " 

"  Of  course  I  can't  say  that  he  does  suspect  them 
— I  only  fancied  from  his  tone  that  it  might  be 
possible  ;  he  himself  insists  that  he  can't  in  justice 
suspect  any  body.  One  of  these  men  is  Hahn,  the 
travelling  agent  who  sold  him  the  cameo.  This 
man's  character  does  not  appear  to  be  absolutely 
irreproachable ;  no  dealer  trusts  him  very  far.  Of 
course  Claridge  doesn't  say  what  he  paid  him  for 
the  cameo ;  these  dealers  are  very  reticent  about 
their  profits,  which  I  believe  are  as  often  something 
like  five  hundred  per  cent,  as  not.  But  it  seems 
Hahn  bargained  to  have  something  extra,  depend- 
ing on  the  amount  Claridge  could  sell  the  carving 
for.  According  to  the  appointment  he  should  have 
turned  up  this  morning,  but  he  hasn't  been-  seen, 
and  nobody  seems  to  know  exactly  where  he  is." 

"  Yes  ;  and  the  other  person  I " 

"Well,  I  scarcely  like  mentioning  him,  because 
he  is  certainly  a  gentleman,  and  I  believe,  in  the 
ordinary  way,  quite  incapable  of  any  thing  in  the 
least  degree  dishonorable ;  although,  of  course, 
they  say  a  collector  has  no  conscience  in  the  matter 
of  his  own  particular  hobby,  and  certainly  Mr. 
Woollett  is  as  keen  a  collector  as  any  man  alive. 
He  lives  in  chambers  in  the  next  turning  past  Clar- 
idge's  premises — can,  in  fact,  look  into  Claridge' s 
back  windows  if  he  likes.  He  examined  the  cameo 
several  times  before  I  bought  it,  and  made  several 


THE  STANWAY   CAMEO  MYSTERY  169 

high  offers — appeared,  in  fact,  very  anxious  indeed 
to  get  it.  After  I  had  bought  it  he  made,  I  under- 
stand, some  rather  strong  remarks  about  people 
like  myself  'spoiling  the  market'  by  paying  ex- 
travagant prices,  and  altogether  cut  up  'crusty,'  as 
they  say,  at  losing  the  specimen."  Lord  Stan  way 
paused  a  few  seconds,  and  then  went  on:  "I'm 
not  sure  that  I  ought  to  mention  Mr.  Woollett's 
name  for  a  moment  in  connection  with  such  a 
matter ;  I  am  personally  perfectly  certain  that  he  is 
as  incapable  of  any  thing  like  theft  as  myself.  But 
I  am  telling  you  all  I  know." 

"Precisely.  I  can't  know  too  much  in  a  case 
like  this.  It  can  do  no  harm  if  I  know  all  about 
fifty  innocent  people,  and  may  save  me  from  the 
risk  of  knowing  nothing  about  the  thief.  Now,  let 
me  see :  Mr.  Woollett's  rooms,  you  say,  are  near 
Mr.  Claridge's  place  of  business  ?  Is  there  any 
means  of  communication  between  the  roofs  ? " 

"Yes,  I  am  told  that  it  is  perfectly  possible  to 
get  from  one  place  to  the  other  by  walking  along 
the  leads." 

"  Very  good !  Then,  unless  you  can  think  of  any 
other  information  that  may  help  me,  I  think,  Lord 
Stan  way,  I  will  go  at  once  and  look  at  the  place." 

"  Do,  by  all  means.  I  think  I'll  come  back  with 
you.  Somehow,  I  don't  like  to  feel  idle  in  the 
matter,  though  I  suppose  I  can't  do  much.  As  to 
more  information,  I  don't  think  there  is  any." 

"  In  regard  to  Mr.  Claridge's  assistant,  now  :  Do 
you  know  any  thing  of  him  ? " 

"  Only  that  he  has  always  seemed  a  very  civil  and 
decent  sort  of  man.     Honest,  I  should  say,  or  Clar- 


170  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

idge  wouldn't  have  kept  him  so  many  years — there 
are  a  good  many  valuable  things  about  at  Claridge's. 
Besides,  the  man  has  keys  of  the  place  himself,  and, 
even  if  he  were  a  thief,  he  wouldn't  need  to  go 
breaking  in  through  the  roof." 

"  So  that,"  said  Hewitt,  "  we  have,  directly  con- 
nected with  this  cameo,  besides  yourself,  these 
people :  Mr.  Claridge,  the  dealer,  Mr.  Cutler,  the 
assistant  in  Mr.  Claridge's  business,  Hahn,  who 
sold  the  article  to  Claridge,  and  Mr.  Woollett,  who 
made  bids  for  it.     These  are  all? " 

"All  that  I  know  of.  Other  gentlemen  made 
bids,  I  believe,  but  I  don't  know  them." 

"Take  these  people  in  their  order.  Mr.  Claridge 
is  out  of  the  question,  as  a  dealer  with  a  reputation 
to  keep  up  would  be  even  if  he  hadn't  immediately 
sent  you  this  five  thousand  pounds — more  than  the 
market  value,  I  understand,  of  the  cameo.  The  as- 
sistant is  a  reputable  man,  against  whom  nothing  is 
known,  who  would  never  need  to  break  in,  and  who 
must  understand  his  business  well  enough  to  know 
that  he  could  never  attempt  to  sell  the  missing  stone 
without  instant  detection.  Hahn  is  a  man  of  shady 
antecedents,  probably  clever  enough  to  know  as 
well  as  any  body  how  to  dispose  of  such  plunder — 
if  it  be  possible  to  dispose  of  it  at  all ;  also,  Hahn 
hasn't  been  to  Claridge's  to-day,  although  he  had 
an  appointment  to  take  money.  Lastly,  Mr.  Wool- 
lett is  a  gentleman  of  the  most  honorable  record,  but 
a  perfectly  rabid  collector,  who  had  made  every 
effort  to  secure  the  cameo  before  you  bought  it ; 
who,  moreover,  could  have  seen  Mr.  Claridge  work- 
ing in  his  back  room,  and  who  has  perfectly  easy 


THE  STAN  WAT  CAMEO  MYSTERY  171 

access  to  Mr.  Claridge' s  roof.  If  we  find  it  can  be 
none  of  these,  then  we  must  look  where  circum- 
stances indicate." 

There  was  unwonted  excitement  at  Mr.  Claridge' s 
place  when  Hewitt  and  his  client  arrived.  It  was 
a  dull  old  building,  and  in  the  windows  there  was 
never  more  show  than  an  odd  blue  china  vase  or 
two,  or,  mayhap,  a  few  old  silver  shoe-buckles  and 
a  curious  small-sword.  Nine  men  out  of  ten  would 
have  passed  it  without  a  glance ;  but  the  tenth  at 
least  would  probably  know  it  for  a  place  famous 
through  the  world  for  the  number  and  value  of  the 
old  and  curious  objects  of  art  that  had  passed 
through  it. 

On  this  day  two  or  three  loiterers,  having  heard 
of  the  robbery,  extracted  what  gratification  they 
might  from  staring  at  nothing  between  the  railings 
guarding  the  windows.  Within,  Mr.  Claridge,  a 
brisk,  stout,  little  old  man,  was  talking  earnestly 
to  a  burly  police-inspector  in  uniform,  and  Mr.  Cut- 
ler, who  had  seized  the  opportunity  to  attempt 
amateur  detective  work  on  his  own  account,  was 
grovelling  perseveringly  about  the  floor,  among  old 
porcelain  and  loose  pieces  of  armor,  in  the  futile 
hope  of  finding  any  clue  that  the  thieves  might 
have  considerately  dropped. 

Mr.  Claridge  came  forward  eagerly. 

"  The  leather  case  has  been  found,  I  am  pleased 
to  be  able  to  tell  you,  Lord  Stan  way,  since  you 
left." 

u  Empty,  of  course  i " 

"  Unfortunately,  yes.  It  had  evidently  been 
thrown  away  by  Xho  thief  behind  a  chimney-stack 


172  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

a  roof  or  two  away,  where  the  police  have  found 
it.     But  it  is  a  clue,  of  course." 

"Ah,  then  this  gentleman  will  give  me  his 
opinion  of  it,"  Lord  Stanway  said,  turning  to 
Hewitt.  "  This,  Mr.  Claridge,  is  Mr.  Martin  Hewitt, 
who  has  been  kind  enough  to  come  with  me  here  at 
a  moment's  notice.  With  the  police  on  the  one 
hand  and  Mr.  Hewitt  on  the  other  we  shall  cer- 
tainly recover  that  cameo,  if  it  is  to  be  recovered,  I 
think." 

Mr.  Claridge  bowed,  and  beamed  on  Hewitt 
through  his  spectacles.  "  I'm  very  glad  Mr.  Hewitt 
has  come,"  he  said.  "  Indeed,  I  had  already 
decided  to  give  the  police  till  this  time  to-morrow, 
and  then,  if  they  had  found  nothing,  to  call  in  Mr. 
Hewitt  myself." 

Hewitt  bowed  in  his  turn,  and  then  asked : 
"Will  you  let  me  see  the  various  breakages?  I 
hope  they  have  not  been  disturbed." 

"Nothing  whatever  has  been  disturbed.  Do 
exactly  as  seems  best.  I  need  scarcely  say  that 
every  thing  here  is  perfectly  at  your  disposal.  You 
know  all  the  circumstances,  of  course?" 

"In  general,  yes.  I  suppose  I  am  right  in  the 
belief  that  you  have  no  resident  housekeeper  % " 

"  No,"  Claridge  replied,  "  I  haven't.  I  had  one 
housekeeper  who  sometimes  pawned  my  property 
in  the  evening,  and  then  another  who  used  to  break 
my  most  valuable  china,  till  I  could  never  sleep  or 
take  a  moment's  ease  at  home  for  fear  my  stock 
was  being  ruined  here.  So  I  gave  up  resident  house- 
keepers. I  felt  some  confidence  in  doing  it  because 
of  the  policeman  who  is  always  on  duty  opposite." 


THE  STANWAY  CAMEO  MYSTERY  173 

"  Can  I  see  the  broken  desk  1 " 

Mr0  CJaridge  led  the  way  into  the  room  behind 
the  shop.  The  desk  was  really  a  sort  of  work-table, 
with  a  lifting  top  and  a  lock.  The  top  had  been 
forced  roughly  open  by  some  instrument  which  had 
been  pushed  in  below  it  and  used  as  a  lever,  so  that 
the  catch  of  the  lock  was  torn  away.  Hewitt 
examined  the  damaged  parts  and  the  marks  of  the 
lever,  and  then  looked  out  at  the  back  window. 

"  There  are  several  windows  about  here,"  he 
remarked,  "from  which  it  might  be  possible  to  see 
into  this  room.  Do  you  know  any  of  the  people 
who  live  behind  them  \ " 

"Two  or  three  I  know,"  Mr.  Claridge  answered, 
"but  there  are  two  windows — the  pair  almost  im- 
mediately before  us — belonging  to  a  room  or  office 
which  is  to  let.  Any  stranger  might  get  in  there 
and  watch." 

"  Do  the  roofs  above  any  of  those  windows  com- 
municate in  any  way  with  yours  ? " 

"  None  of  those  directly  opposite.  Those  at  the 
left  do;  you  may  walk  all  the  way  along  the 
leads." 

"  And  whose  windows  are  they  ? " 

Mr.  Claridge  hesitated.  "Well,"  he  said, 
"they're  Mr.  Woollett's,  an  excellent  customer  of 
mine.  But  he's  a  gentleman,  and — well,  I  really 
think  it's  absurd  to  suspect  him." 

"In  a  case  like  this,"  Hewitt  answered,  "one 
must  disregard  nothing  but  the  impossible.  Some- 
body— whether  Mr.  Woollett  himself  or  another 
person — could  possibly  have  seen  into  this  room 
from  those  windows,  and  equally  possibly  could 


1H  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

have  reached  this  roof  from  that  one.  Therefore 
we  must  not  forget  Mr.  Woollett.  Have  any  of 
your  neighbors  been  burgled  during  the  night  I  I 
mean  that  strangers  anxious  to  get  at  your  trap- 
door would  probably  have  to  begin  by  getting  into 
some  other  house  close  by,  so  as  to  reach  your 
roof." 

"No,"  Mr.  Claridge  replied;  "there  has  been 
nothing  of  that  sort.  It  was  the  first  thing  the 
police  ascertained." 

Hewitt  examined  the  broken  door  and  then  made 
his  way  up  the  stairs  with  the  others.  The 
unscrewed  lock  of  the  door  of  the  top  back  room 
required  little  examination.  In  the  room  below 
the  trap-door  was  a  dusty  table  on  which  stood  a 
chair,  and  at  the  other  side  of  the  table  sat  Detec- 
tive-Inspector Plummer,  whom  Hewitt  knew  very 
well,  and  who  bade  him  " good- day"  and  then 
went  on  with  his  docket. 

"This  chair  and  table  were  found  as  they  are 
now,  I  take  it  I "  Hewitt  asked. 

"Yes,"  said  Mr.  Claridge;  "the  thieves,  I 
should  think,  dropped  in  through  the  trap-door, 
after  breaking  it  open,  and  had  to  place  this  chair 
where  it  is  to  be  able  to  climb  back." 

Hewitt  scrambled  up  through  the  trap- way  and 
examined  it  from  the  top.  The  door  was  hung  on 
long  external  barn-door  hinges,  and  had  been  forced 
open  in  a  similar  manner  to  that  practised  on  the 
desk.  A  jimmy  had  been  pushed  between  the 
frame  and  the  door  near  the  bolt,  and  the  door  had 
been  prized  open,  the  bolt  being  torn  away  from 
the  screws  in  the  operation. 


THE  STAN  WAY  CAMEO  MYSTERY  175 

Presently  Inspector  Plummer,  having  finished 
his  docket,  climbed  up  to  the  roof  after  Hewitt, 
and  the  two  together  went  to  the  spot,  close  under 
a  chimney-stack  on  the  next  roof  but  one,  where 
the  case  had  been  found.  Plummer  produced  the 
case,  which  he  had  in  his  coat-tail  pocket,  for 
Hewitt's  inspection. 

UI  don't  see  any  thing  particular  about  it;  do 
you  I "  he  said.  "  It  shows  us  the  way  they  went, 
though,  being  found  just  here." 

"Well,  yes,"  Hewitt  said;  "if  we  kept  on  in 
this  direction,  we  should  be  going  toward  Mr.  Wool- 
lett's  house,  and  Ms  trap-door,  shouldn't  we?" 

The  inspector  pursed  his  lips,  smiled,  and 
shrugged  his  shoulders.  "Of  course  we  haven't 
waited  till  now  to  find  that  out,"  he  said. 

"No,  of  course.  And,  as  you  say,  I  don't  think 
there  is  much  to  be  learned  from  this  leather  case. 
It  is  almost  new,  and  there  isn't  a  mark  on  it." 
And  Hewitt  handed  it  back  to  the  inspector. 

"Well,"  said  Plummer,  as  he  returned  the  case 
to  his  pocket,  "  what's  your  opinion  V 

"It's  rather  an  awkward  case." 

"  Yes,  it  is.  Between  ourselves— I  don't  mind 
Celling  you — I'm  having  a  sharp  lookout  kept  over 
there," — Plummer  jerked  his  head  in  the  direction 
of  Mr.  Woollett's  chambers, — "because  the  rob- 
bery's an  unusual  one.  There's  only  two  possible 
motives — the  sale  of  the  cameo  or  the  keeping  of  it. 
The  sale's  out  of  the  question,  as  you  know;  the 
thing's  only  salable  to  those  who  would  collar  the 
thief  at  once,  and  who  wouldn't  have  the  thing  in 
their  places  now  for  any  thing.     So  that  it  must  be 


176  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

taken  to  keep,  and  that's  a  thing  nobody  but  the 
maddest  of  collectors  would  do,  just  such  persons 

as "   and  the  inspector  nodded  again  toward 

Mr.  Woollett's  quarters.  "Take  that  with  the 
other  circumstances,"  he  added,  "and  I  think 
you'll  agree  it's  worth  while  looking  a  little  far- 
ther that  way.  Of  course  some  of  the  work — 
taking  oif  the  lock  and  so  on — looks  rather  like  a 
regular  burglar,  but  it's  just  possible  that  any  one 
badly  wanting  the  cameo  would  hire  a  man  who 
was  up  to  the  work." 

"  Yes,  it's  possible." 

"Do  you  know  any  thing  of  Hahn,  the  agent  ? " 
Plummer  asked,  a  moment  later. 

"No,  I  don't.     Have  you  found  him  yet  1 " 

"I  haven't  yet,  but  I'm  after  him.  I've  found 
he  was  at  Charing  Cross  a  day  or  two  ago,  booking 
a  ticket  for  the  Continent.  That  and  his  failing  to 
turn  up  to-day  seem  to  make  it  worth  while  not  to 
miss  Mm  if  we  can  help  it.  He  isn't  the  sort  of 
man  that  lets  a  chance  of  drawing  a  bit  of  money 
go  for  nothing." 

They  returned  to  the  room.  "Well,"  said  Lord 
Stan  way,  "what's  the  result  of  the  consultation? 
We've  been  waiting  here  very  patiently,  while  you 
two  clever  men  have  been  discussing  the  matter  on 
the  roof." 

On  the  wall  just  beneath  the  trap-door  a  very 
dusty  old  tall  hat  hung  on  a  peg.  This  Hewitt  took 
down  and  examined  very  closely,  smearing  his  fin- 
gers with  the  dust  from  the  inside  liningo  "  Is  this 
one  of  your  valuable  and  crusted  old  antiques?" 
he  asked,  with  a  smile,  of  Mr.  Claridge. 


THE  STANWAY  CAMEO  MYSTEKY  111 

" That's  only  an  old  hat  that  I  used  to  keep  here 
for  use  in  bad  weather,"  Mr.  Claridge  said,  with 
some  surprise  at  the  question.  "  I  haven' t  touched 
it  for  a  year  or  more." 

"  Oh,  then  it  couldn't  have  been  left  here  by  your 
last  night's  visitor,"  Hewitt  replied,  carelessly 
replacing  it  on  the  hook.  "  You  left  here  at  eight 
last  night,  I  think?" 

"Eight  exactly — or  within  a  minute  or  two." 

"  Just  so.  I  think  I'll  look  at  the  room  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  landing,  if  you'll  let  me." 

"Certainly,  if  you'd  like  to,"  Claridge  replied  ; 
"but  they  haven't  been  there — it  is  exactly  as  it 
was  left.  Only  a  lumber-room,  you  see,"  he  con- 
cluded, flinging  the  door  open. 

A  number  of  partly  broken-up  packing-cases  lit- 
tered about  this  room,  with  much  other  rubbish. 
Hewitt  took  the  lid  of  one  of  the  newest  looking 
packing-cases,  and  glanced  at  the  address  label. 
Then  he  turned  to  a  rusty  old  iron  box  that  stood 
against  a  wall.  "  I  should  like  to  see  behind  this," 
he  said,  tugging  at  it  with  his  hands.  "  It  is  heavy 
and  dirty.  Is  there  a  small  crowbar  about  the 
house,  or  some  similar  lever?  " 

Mr.  Claridge  shook  his  head.  ' '  Haven' t  such  a 
thing  in  the  place,"  he  said. 

"Never  mind,"  Hewitt  replied,  "another  time 
will  do  to  shift  that  old  box,  and  perhaps,  after  all, 
there's  little  reason  for  moving  it.  I  will  just  walk 
round  to  the  police-station,  I  think,  and  speak  to 
the  constables  who  were  on  duty  opposite  during 
the  night.  I  think,  Lord  Stanway,  I  have  seen  all 
that  is  necessary  here." 


178  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

"  I  suppose,"  asked  Mr.  Claridge,  "  it  is  too  soon 
yet  to  ask  if  you  have  formed  any  theory  in  the 
matter  ?" 

"Well — yes,  it  is,"  Hewitt  answered.  "But 
perhaps  I  may  be  able  to  surprise  you  in  an  hour  or 
two  ;  but  that  I  don't  promise.  By-the-bye,"  he 
added  suddenly,  "I  suppose  you're  sure  the  trap- 
door was  bolted  last  night?" 

"Certainly,"  Mr.  Claridge  answered,  smiling. 
"Else  how  could  the  bolt  have  been  broken ?  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  I  believe  the  trap  hasn't  been  opened 
for  months.  Mr.  Cutler,  do  you  remember  when 
the  trap-door  was  last  opened  ? " 

Mr.  Cutler  shook  his  head.  "Certainly  not  for 
six  months,"  he  said. 

"Ah,  very  well ;  it's  not  very  important,"  Hew- 
itt replied. 

As  they  reached  the  front  shop  a  fiery-faced  old 
gentleman  bounced  in  at  the  street  door,  stumbling 
over  an  umbrella  that  stood  in  a  dark  corner,  and 
kicking  it  three  yards  away. 

"What  the  deuce  do  you  mean,"  he  roared  at 
Mr.  Claridge,  "by  sending  these  police  people 
smelling  about  my  rooms  and  asking  questions  of 
my  servants  ?  What  do  you  mean,  sir,  by  treating 
me  as  a  thief?  Can't  a  gentleman  come  into  this 
place  to  look  at  an  article  without  being  suspected 
of  stealing  it,  when  it  disappears  through  your 
wretched  carelessness  ?  I'll  ask  my  solicitor,  sir, 
if  there  isn't  a  remedy  for  this  sort  of  thing.  And 
if  I  catch  another  of  your  spy  fellows  on  my  stair- 
case, or  crawling  about  my  roof,  I'll— I'll  shoot 
him  ! " 


THE  STAN  WAY  CAMEO  MYSTERY  179 

"  Eeally,  Mr.  Woollett "  began  Mr.  Claridge, 

somewhat  abashed,  but  the  angry  old  man  would 
hear  nothing. 

"  Don't  talk  to  me,  sir ;  you  shall  talk  to  my 
solicitor.  And  am  I  to  understand,  my  lord," — 
turning  to  Lord  Stanway, — "that  these  things  are 
being  done  with  your  approval  \ " 

"Whatever  is  being  done,"  Lord  Stanway  an- 
swered, "  is  being  done  by  the  police  on  their  own 
responsibility,  and  entirely  without  prompting,  I 
believe,  by  Mr.  Claridge — certainly  without  a  sug- 
gestion of  any  sort  from  myself.  I  think  that  the 
personal  opinion  of  Mr.  Claridge — certainly  my 
own — is  that  any  thing  like  a  suspicion  of  your 
position  in  this  wretched  matter  is  ridiculous. 
And  if  you  will  only  consider  the  matter  calm- 
ly  " 

"Consider  it  calmly  ?  Imagine  yourself  consid- 
ering such  a  thing  calmly,  Lord  Stanway.  I  won't 
consider  it  calmly.  I'll — I'll — I  won't  have  it. 
And  if  I  find  another  man  on  my  roof,  I'll  pitch 
him  off  !  "  And  Mr0  Woollett  bounced  into  the 
street  again. 

"Mr.  Woollett  is  annoyed,"  Hewitt  observed, 
with  a  smile.  "I'm  afraid  Plummer  has  a  clumsy 
assistant  somewhere." 

Mr.  Claridge  said  nothing,  but  looked  rather 
glum,  for  Mr.  Woollett  was  a  most  excellent 
customer. 

Lord  Stanway  and  Hewitt  walked  slowly  down 
the  street,  Hewitt  staring  at  the  pavement  in  pro- 
found thought.  Once  or  twice  Lord  Stanway 
glanced  at  his  face,  but  refrained  from  disturbing 


180  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

him.  Presently,  however,  he  observed :  '  You 
seem,  at  least,  Mr.  Hewitt,  to  have  noticed  some- 
thing that  has  set  you  thinking.  Does  it  look  like 
a  clue?" 

Hewitt  came  out  of  his  cogitation  at  once.  "A 
clue  1 "  he  said  ;  "  the  case  bristles  with  clues.  The 
extraordinary  thing  to  me  is  that  Plummer,  usually 
a  smart  man,  doesn'  t  seem  to  have  seen  one  of  them. 
He  must  be  out  of  sorts,  I'm  afraid.  But  the  case 
is  decidedly  a  very  remarkable  one." 

" Remarkable  in  what  particular  way?" 

"In  regard  to  motive.  Now  it  would  seem,  as 
Plummer  was  saying  to  me  just  now  on  the  roof, 
that  there  were  only  two  possible  motives  for  such 
a  robbery.  Either  the  man  who  took  all  this  trouble 
and  risk  to  break  into  Claridge's  place  must  have 
desired  to  sell  the  cameo  at  a  good  price,  or  he  must 
have  desired  to  keep  it  for  himself,  being  a  lover  of 
such  things.  But  neither  of  these  has  been  the 
actual  motive." 

"Perhaps  he  thinks  he  can  extort  a  good  sum 
from  me  by  way  of  ransom  ? " 

"No,  it  isn't  that.  Nor  is  it  jealousy,  nor 
spite,  nor  any  thing  of  that  kind.  I  know  the 
motive,  I  think — but  I  wish  we  could  get  hold  of 
Hahn.  I  will  shut  myself  up  alone  and  turn  it 
over  in  my  mind  for  half-an-hour  presently." 

"  Meanwhile,  what  I  want  to  know  is,  apart  from 
all  your  professional  subtleties, — which  I  confess  I 
can't  understand, — can  you  get  back  the  cameo  ? " 

"That,"  said  Hewitt,  stopping  at  the  corner  of 
the  street,  "lam  rather  afraid  I  cannot — nor  any 
body  else.     But  I  am  pretty  sure  I  know  the  thief." 


THE  STANWAY  CAMEO   MYSTERY  181 

"  Then  surely  that  will  lead  you  to  the  cameo  ?" 

"  It  may,  of  course  ;  but,  then,  it  is  just  possible 
that  by  this  evening  you  may  not  want  to  have  it 
back,  after  all." 

Lord  Stanway  stared  in  amazement. 

6 'Not  want  to  have  it  back!"  he  exclaimed. 
"  Why,  of  course  I  shall  want  to  have  it  back.  I 
don' t  understand  you  in  the  least ;  you  talk  in 
conundrums.     Who  is  the  thief  you  speak  of  ? " 

"I  think,  Lord  Stanway,"  Hewitt  said,  "that 
perhaps  I  had  better  not  say  until  I  have  quite 
finished  my  enquiries,  in  case  of  mistakes.  The 
case  is  quite  an  extraordinary  one,  and  of  quite  a 
different  character  from  what  one  would  at  first 
naturally  imagine,  and  I  must  be  very  careful  to 
guard  against  the  possibility  of  error.  I  have  very 
little  fear  of  a  mistake,  however,  and  I  hope  I  may 
wait  on  you  in  a  few  hours  at  Piccadilly  with  news. 
I  have  only  to  see  the  policemen." 

u  Certainly,  come  whenever  you  please.  But 
why  see  the  policemen  ?  They  have  already  most 
positively  stated  that  they  saw  nothing  whatever 
suspicious  in  the  house  or  near  it." 

"I  shall  not  ask  them  any  thing  at  all  about  the 
house,"  Hewitt  responded.  "I  shall  just  have  a 
little  chat  with  them — about  the  weather."  And 
/with  a  smiling  bow  he  turned  away,  while  Lord 
Stanway  stood  and  gazed  after  him,  with  an  expres- 
sion that  implied  a  suspicion  that  his  special  de- 
tective was  making  a  fool  of  him. 

Jn  rather  more  than  an  hour  Hewitt  was  back  in 
Mr.  Claridge's  shop.     "Mr.  Claridge,"  he  said,  "I 


182  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

think  I  must  ask  you  one  or  two  questions  in  private. 
May  I  see  you  in  your  own  room  ? " 

They  went  there  at  once,  and  Hewitt,  pulling  a 
chair  before  the  window,  sat  down  with  his  back  to 
the  light.  The  dealer  shut  the  door,  and  sat  op- 
posite him,  with  the  light  full  in  his  face. 

"Mr.  Claridge,"  Hewitt  proceeded  slowly, 
"when  did  you  first  find  that  Lord  Stanway's 
cameo  was  a  forgery  f  " 

Claridge  literally  bounced  in  his  chair.  His 
face  paled,  but  he  managed  to  stammer'  sharply : 
"  What — what — what  d'you  mean  ?  Forgery?  Do 
you  mean  to  say  I  sell  forgeries?  Forgery?  It 
wasn't  a  forgery  ! " 

"  Then,"  continued  Hewitt  in  the  same  deliberate 
tone,  watching  the  other's  face  the  while,  "if  it 
wasn't  a  forgery,  why  did  you  destroy  it  and  burst 
your  trap-door  and  desk  to  imitate  a  burglary?" 

The  sweat  stood  thick  on  the  dealer's  face,  and 
he  gasped.  But  he  struggled  hard  to  keep  his  facul- 
ties together,  and  ejaculated  hoarsely:  "Destroy 
it?    What— what— I  didn't— didn't  destroy  it ! " 

"  Threw  it  into  the  river,  then — don't  prevaricate 
about  details." 

' 1  No— no— it' s  a  lie.  Who  says  that  ?  Go  away ! 
You're  insulting  me  !  "  Claridge  almost  screamed. 

"Come,  come,  Mr.  Claridge,"  Hewitt  said  more 
placably,  for  he  had  gained  his  point;  "don't  dis- 
tress yourself,  and  don't  attempt  to  deceive  me— 
you  can't,  I  assure  you.  I  know  every  thing  you 
did  before  you  left  here  last  night — every  thing." 

Claridge' s  face  worked  painfully.  Once  or  twice 
be  appeared  to  be  on  the  point  of  returning  an  in- 


THE  STAN  WAY  CAMEO  MYSTERY  183 

dignant  reply,  but  hesitated,  and  finally  broke  down 
altogether. 

"  Don' t  expose  me,  Mr.  Hewitt ! "  he  pleaded  ;  "  I 
beg  you  won't  expose  me !  I  haven' t  harmed  a  soul 
but  myself.  I've  paid  Lord  Stan  way  every  penny 
back,  and  I  never  knew  the  thing  was  a  forgery  till 
I  began  to  clean  it.  I'm  an  old  man,  Mr.  Hewitt, 
and  my  professional  reputation  has  been  spotless 
till  now.    I  beg  you  won't  expose  me." 

Hewitt' s  voice  softened.  ' '  Don' t  make  an  unnec- 
essary trouble  of  it,"  he  said.  "I  see  a  decanter 
on  your  sideboard — let  me  give  you  a  little  brandy 
and  water.  Come,  there' s  nothing  criminal,  I  believe, 
in  a  man's  breaking  open  his  own  desk,  or  his  own 
trap-door,  for  that  matter.  Of  course  I'm  acting 
for  Lord  Stanway  in  this  affair,  and  I  must,  in 
duty,  report  to  him  without  reserve.  But  Lord 
Stanway  is  a  gentleman,  and  I'll  undertake  he'll 
do  nothing  inconsiderate  of  your  feelings,  if  you're 
disposed  to  be  frank.  Let  us  talk  the  affair  over  ; 
tell  me  about  it." 

"  It  was  that  swindler  Hahn  who  deceived  me  in 
the  beginning,"  Claridge  said.  "  I  have  never  made 
a  mistake  with  a  cameo  before,  and  I  never  thought 
so  close  an  imitation  was  possible.  I  examined 
it  most  carefully,  and  was  perfectly  satisfied,  and 
many  experts  examined  it  afterward,  and  were  all 
equally  deceived.  I  felt  as  sure  as  I  possibly  could 
feel  that  I  had  bought  one  of  the  finest,  if  not 
actually  the  finest,  cameo  known  to  exist.  It  was 
not  until  after  it  had  come  back  from  Lord  Stan- 
way's,  and  I  was  cleaning  it  the  evening  before  last, 
that  in  course  of  my  work  it  became  apparent  that 


184 

the  thing  was  nothing  but  a  consummately  clever 
forgery.  It  was  made  of  three  layers  of  moulded 
glass,  nothing  more  nor  less.  But  the  glass  was 
treated  in  a  way  I  had  never  before  known  of,  and 
the  surface  had  been  cunningly  worked  on  till  it 
defied  any  ordinary  examination.  Some  of  the 
glass  imitation  cameos  made  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  last  century,  I  may  tell  you,  are  regarded  as 
marvellous  pieces  of  work,  and,  indeed,  command 
very  fair  prices,  but  this  was  something  quite 
beyond  any  of  those. 

uIwas  amazed  and  horrified.  I  put  the  thing 
away  and  went  home.  All  that  night  I  lay  awake 
in  a  state  of  distraction,  quite  unable  to  decide 
what  to  do.  To  let  the  cameo  go  out  of  my  posses- 
sion was  impossible.  Sooner  or  later  the  forgery 
would  be  discovered,  and  my  reputation, — the  high- 
est in  these  matters  in  this  country,  I  may  safely 
claim,  and  the  growth  of  nearly  fifty  years  of  hon- 
est application  and  good  judgment, — this  reputation 
would  be  gone  forever.  But  without  considering 
this  there  was  the  fact  that  I  had  taken  five  thou- 
sand pounds  of  Lord  Stan  way's  money  for  a  mere 
piece  of  glass,  and  that  money  I  must,  in  mere 
common  honesty  as  well  as  for  my  own  sake,  return. 
But  how  %  The  name  of  the  Stan  way  Cameo  had 
become  a  household  word,  and  to  confess  that  the 
whole  thing  was  a  sham  would  ruin  my  reputation 
and  destroy  all  confidence — past,  present,  and  future 
— in  me  and  in  my  transactions.  Either  way  spelled 
ruin.  Even  if  I  confided  in  Lord  Stan  way  privately, 
returned  his  money,  and  destroyed  the  cameo,  what 
then?    The  sudden  disappearance  of  an  article  so 


THE  STAN  WAY   CAMEO   MYSTERY  185 

famous  would  excite  remark  at  once.  It  had  been 
presented  to  the  British  Museum,  and  if  it  never 
appeared  in  that  collection,  and  no  news  were  to  be 
got  of  it,  people  would  guess  at  the  truth  at  once. 
To  make  it  known  that  I  myself  had  been  deceived 
would  have  availed  nothing.  It  is  my  business  not 
to  be  deceived  ;  and  to  have  it  known  that  my  most 
expensive  specimens  might  be  forgeries  would 
equally  mean  ruin,  whether  I  sold  them  cunningly 
as  a  rogue  or  ignorantly  as  a  fool.  Indeed,  my 
pride,  my  reputation  as  a  connoisseur,  is  a  thing 
near  to  my  heart,  and  it  would  be  an  unspeakable 
humiliation  to  me  to  have  it  known  that  I  had  been 
imposed  on  by  such  a  forgery.  What  could  I  do  ? 
Every  expedient  seemed  useless  but  one — the  one 
I  adopted.  It  was  not  straightforward,  I  admit; 
but,  oh  !  Mr.  Hewitt,  consider  the  temptation — and 
remember  that  it  couldn't  do  a  soul  any  harm.  !N*o 
matter  who  might  be  suspected,  I  knew  there  could 
not  possibly  be  evidence  to  make  them  suffer.  All 
the  next  day — yesterday — I  was  anxiously  worry- 
ing out  the  thing  in  my  mind  and  carefully  devis- 
ing the — the  trick,  I'm  afraid  you'll  call  it,  that 
you  by  some  extraordinary  means  have  seen 
through.  It  seemed  the  only  thing — what  else  was 
there?  More  I  needn't  tell  you  ;  you  know  it.  I 
have  only  now  to  beg  that  you  will  use  your  best 
influence  with  Lord  Stanway  to  save  me  from  pub- 
lic derision  and  exposure.  I  will  do  any  thing — 
pay  any  thing — any  thing  but  exposure,  at  my  age, 
and  with  my  position." 

"Well,  you  see,"  Hewitt  replied  thoughtfully, 
"I've  no  doubt  Lord  Stanway  will  show  you  every 


186 

consideration,  and  certainly  I  will  do  what  I  can  to 
save  you  in  the  circumstances ;  though  you  must 
remember  that  you  7iave  done  some  harm — you 
have  caused  suspicions  to  rest  on  at  least  one 
honest  man.  But  as  to  reputation,  I've  a  profes- 
sional reputation  of  my  own.  If  I  help  to  conceal 
your  professional  failure,  I  shall  appear  to  have 
failed  in  my  part  of  the  business." 

"But  the  cases  are  different,  Mr.  Hewitt.  Con- 
sider. You  are  not  expected — it  would  be  impos- 
sible— to  succeed  invariably  ;  and  there  are  only 
two  or  three  who  know  you  have  looked  into  the 
case.     Then  your  other  conspicuous  successes " 

"Well,  well,  we  shall  see.  One  thing  I  don't 
know,  though — whether  you  climbed  out  of  a  win- 
dow to  break  open  the  trap-door,  or  whether  you 
got  up  through  the  trap-door  itself  and  pulled  the 
bolt  with  a  string  through  the  jamb,  so  as  to 
bolt  it  after  you." 

"There  was  no  available  window;  I  used  the 
string,  as  you  say.  My  poor  little  cunning  must 
seem  very  transparent  to  you,  I  fear.  I  spent  hours 
of  thought  over  the  question  of  the  trap-door — how 
to  break  it  open  so  as  to  leave  a  genuine  appear- 
ance, and  especially  how  to  bolt  it  inside  after  I 
had  reached  the  roof.  I  thought  I  had  succeeded 
beyond  the  possibility  of  suspicion  ;  how  you  pene- 
trated the  device  surpasses  my  comprehension. 
How,  to  begin  with,  could  you  possibly  know  that 
the  cameo  was  a  forgery  ?    Did  you  ever  see  it  % " 

"Never.  And,  if  I  had  seen  it,  I  fear  I  should 
never  have  been  able  to  express  an  opinion  on  it ; 
I'm  not  a  connoisseur.    As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  didnH 


THE  STANWAY  CAMEO  MYSTERY  187 

know  that  the  thing  was  a  forgery  in  the  first  place ; 
what  I  knew  in  the  first  place  was  that  it  was  you 
who  had  broken  into  the  house.  It  was  from  that 
that  I  arrived  at  the  conclusion,  after  a  certain 
amount  of  thought,  that  the  cameo  must  have  been 
forged.  Gain  was  out  of  the  question.  You, 
beyond  all  men,  could  never  sell  the  Stanway 
Cameo  again,  and,  besides,  you  had  paid  back  Lord 
Stanway' s  money.  I  knew  enough  of  your  reputa- 
tion to  know  that  you  would  never  incur  the  scan- 
dal of  a  great  theft  at  your  place  for  the  sake  of 
getting  the  cameo  for  yourself,  when  you  might 
have  kept  it  in  the  beginning,  with  no  trouble  and 
mystery.  Consequently  I  had  to  look  for  another 
motive,  and  at  first  another  motive  seemed  an 
impossibility.  Why  should  you  wish  to  take  all 
this  trouble  to  lose  five  thousand .  pounds  ?  You 
had  nothing  to  gain  ;  perhaps  you  had  something 
to  save — your  professional  reputation,  for  instance. 
Looking  at  it  so,  it  was  plain  that  you  were  sup- 
pressing the  cameo — burking  it ;  since,  once  taken 
as  you  had  taken  it,  it  could  never  come  to  light 
again.  That  suggested  the  solution  of  the  mystery 
at  once — you  had  discovered,  after  the  sale,  that 
the  cameo  was  not  genuine." 

M  Yes,  yes — I  see  ;  but  you  say  you  began  with 
the  knowledge  that  I  broke  into  the  place  myself. 
How  did  you  know  that  ?  I  cannot  imagine  a 
trace " 

"  My  dear  sir,  you  left  traces  everywhere.  In 
the  first  place,  it  struck  me  as  curious,  before  I 
came  here,  that  you  had  sent  off  that  check  for 
five  thousand  pounds  to  Lord  Stanway  an  hour  or 


188  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

so  after  the  robbery  was  discovered ;  it  looked  so 
much,  as  though  you  were  sure  of  the  cameo  never 
coming  back,  and  were  in  a  hurry  to  avert  sus- 
picion. Of  course  I  understood  that,  so  far  as  I 
then  knew  the  case,  you  were  the  most  unlikely 
person  in  the  world,  and  that  your  eagerness  to 
repay  Lord  Stanway  might  be  the  most  creditable 
thing  possible.  But  the  point  was  worth  remem- 
bering, and  I  remembered  it. 

"  When  I  came  here,  I  saw  suspicious  indications 
in  many  directions,  but  the  conclusive  piece  of  evi- 
dence was  that  old  hat  hanging  below  the  trap- 
door." 

"But  I  never  touched  it;  I  assure  you,  Mr. 
Hewitt,  I  never  touched  the  hat ;  haven't  touched 
it  for  months " 

"  Of  course.  If  you  had  touched  it,  I  might 
never  have  got  the  clue.  But  we'll  deal  with  the 
hat  presently  ;  that  wasn't  what  struck  me  at  first. 
The  trap-door  first  took  my  attention.  Consider, 
now :  Here  was  a  trap-door,  most  insecurely  hung 
on  external  hinges  ;  the  burglar  had  a  screw-driver, 
for  he  took  off  the  door-lock  below  with  it.  Why, 
then,  didn'  t  he  take  this  trap  off  by  the  hinges, 
instead  of  making  a  noise  and  taking  longer  time 
and  trouble  to  burst  the  bolt  from  its  fastenings  ? 
And  why,  if  he  were  a  stranger,  was  he  able  to 
plant  his  jimmy  from  the  outside  just  exactly 
opposite  the  interior  bolt  ?  There  was  only  one 
mark  on  the  frame,  and  that  precisely  in  the  proper 
place. 

"  After  that  I  saw  the  leather  case.  It  had  not 
been  thrown  away,   or  some  corner  would  have 


THE  STAN  WAY   CAMEO   MYSTERY  189 

shown  signs  of  the  fall.  It  had  been  put  down 
carefully  where  it  was  found.  These  things,  how- 
ever, were  of  small  importance  compared  with  the 
hat.  The  hat,  as  you  know,  was  exceedingly  thick 
with  dust — the  accumulation  of  months.  But,  on 
the  top  side,  presented  toward  the  trap-door,  were 
a  score  or  so  of  raindrop  marks.  That  was  all. 
They  were  new  marks,  for  there  was  no  dust  over 
them  ;  they  had  merely  had  time  to  dry  and  cake 
the  dust  they  had  fallen  on.  Now,  there  had  been 
no  rain  since  a  sharp  shower  just  after  seven 
o'clock  last  night.  At  that  time  you,  by  your  own 
statement,  were  in  the  place.  You  left  at  eight, 
and  the  rain  was  all  over  at  ten  minutes  or  a  quar- 
ter past  seven.  The  trap-door,  you  also  told  me, 
had  not  been  opened  for  months.  The  thing  was 
plain.  You,  or  somebody  who  was  here  when  you 
were,  had  opened  that  trap-door  during,  or  just 
before,  that  shower.  I  said  little  then,  but  went,  as 
soon  as  I  had  left,  to  the  police-station.  There  I 
made  perfectly  certain  that  there  had  been  no  rain 
during  the  night  by  questioning  the  policemen  who 
were  on  duty  outside  all  the  time0  There  had  been 
none.    I  knew  every  thing. 

"  The  only  other  evidence  there  was  pointed  with 
all  the  rest.  There  were  no  rain-marks  on  the 
leather  case ;  it  had  been  put  on  the  roof  as  an 
after- thought  when  there  was  no  rain.  A  very  poor 
after-thought,  let  me  tell  you,  for  no  thief  would 
throw  away  a  useful  case  that  concealed  his  booty 
and  protected  it  from  breakage,  and  throw  it  away 
just  so  as  to  leave  a  clue  as  to  what  direction  he  had 
gone  in.    I  also  saw,  in  the  lumber-room,  a  number 


190  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

of  packing-cases — one  with  a  label  dated  two  days 
back — which  had  been  opened  with  an  iron  lever : 
and  yet,  when  I  made  an  excuse  to  ask  for  it,  you 
said  there  was  no  such  thing  in  the  place.  Infer- 
ence :  you  didn't  want  me  to  compare  it  with  the 
marks  on  the  desks  and  doors„  That  is  all,  I 
think." 

Mr.  Claridge  looked  dolorously  down  at  the  floor. 
"I'm  afraid,"  he  said,  "  that  I  took  an  unsuitable 
role  when  I  undertook  to  rely  on  my  wits  to  deceive 
men  like  you.  I  thought  there  wasn't"  a  single 
vulnerable  spot  in  my  defence,  but  you  walk  calmly 
through  it  at  the  first  attempt,  Why  did  I  never 
think  of  those  raindrops  I " 

"  Come,"  said  Hewitt,  with  a  smile,  "  that  sounds 
unrepentant.  I  am  going,  now,  to  Lord  Stan  way's. 
If  I  were  you,  I  think  I  should  apologize  to  Mr. 
Woollett  in  some  way." 

Lord  Stanway,  who,  in  the  hour  or  two  of  reflec- 
tion left  him  after  parting  with  Hewitt,  had  come 
to  the  belief  that  he  had  employed  a  man  whose 
mind  was  not  always  in  order,  received  Hewitt's 
story  with  natural  astonishment.  For  some  time 
he  was  in  doubt  as  to  whether  he  would  be  doing 
right  in  acquiescing  in  any  thing  but  a  straightfor- 
ward public  statement  of  the  facts  connected  with 
the  disappearance  of  the  cameo,  but  in  the  end  was 
persuaded  to  let  the  affair  drop,  on  receiving  an 
assurance  from  Mr.  Woollett  that  he  unreservedly 
accepted  the  apology  offered  him  by  Mr.  Claridge. 

As  for  the  latter,  he  was  at  least  sufficiently  pun- 
ished in  loss  of  money  and  personal  humiliation  for 
his  escapade.     But  the  bitterest  and  last  blow  he 


THE  STAN  WAT  CAMEO  MYSTERY  191 

sustained  when  the  unblushing  Hahn  walked  smil- 
ingly into  his  office  two  days  later  to  demand  the 
extra  payment  agreed  on  in  consideration  of  the 
sale.  He  had  been  called  suddenly  away,  he  ex- 
claimed, on  the  day  he  should  have  come,  and 
hoped  his  missing  the  appointment  had  occasioned 
no  inconvenience.  As  to  the  robbery  of  the  cameo, 
of  course  he  was  very  sorry,  but  "pishness  was 
pishness,"  and  he  would  be  glad  of  a  check  for  the 
sum  agreed  on.  And  the  unhappy  Claridge  was 
obliged  to  pay  it,  knowing  that  the  man  had  swin- 
dled him,  but  unable  to  open  his  mouth  to  say  so. 

The  reward  remained  on  offer  for  a  long  time ; 
indeed,  it  was  never  publicly  withdrawn,  I  believe, 
even  at  the  time  of  Claridge' s  death.  And  several 
intelligent  newspapers  enlarged  upon  the  fact  that 
an  ordinary  burglar  had  completely  baffled  and 
defeated  the  boasted  acumen  of  Mr.  Martin  Hewitt, 
the  well-known  private  detective0 


VII.     THE  AFFAIR  OF  THE  TORTOISE 

Very  often  Hewitt  was  tempted,  by  the  fascina- 
tion of  some  particularly  odd  case,  to  neglect  his 
other  affairs  to  follow  up  a  matter  that  from  a  busi- 
ness point  of  view  was  of  little  or  no  value  to  him. 
As  a  rule,  he  had  a  sufficient  regard  for  his  own 
interests  to  resist  such  temptations,  but  in  one 
curious  case,  at  least,  I  believe  he  allowed  it  largely 
to  influence  him.  It  was  certainly  an  extremely 
odd  case— one  of  those  affairs  that,  coming  to  light 
at  intervals,  but  more  often  remaining  unheard  of 
by  the  general  public,  convince  one  that,  after  all, 
there  is  very  little  extravagance  about  Mr.  K.  L. 
Stevenson's  bizarre  imaginings  of  doings  in  London 
in  his  ' '  New  Arabian  Nights. ' '  "  There  is  nothing 
in  this  world  that  is  at  all  possible,"  I  have  often 
heard  Martin  Hewitt  say,  ' '  that  has  not  happened 
or  is  not  happening  in  London.9'  Certainly  he  had 
opportunities  of  knowing. 

The  case  I  have  referred  to  occurred  some  time 
before  my  own  acquaintance  with  him  began — in 
1878,  in  fact.  He  had  called  one  Monday  morning 
at  an  office  in  regard  to  something  connected  with 
one  of  those  uninteresting,  though  often  difficult, 
cases  which  formed,  perhaps,  the  bulk  of  his  prac- 
tice, when  he  was  informed  of  a  most  mysterious 
murder  that  had  taken  place  in  another  part  of  the 
same  building  on  the  previous  Saturday  afternoon. 

192 


THE  AFFAIR  OF  THE  TORTOISE  193 

Owing  to  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  only  the 
vaguest  account  had  appeared  in  the  morning 
papers,  and  even  this,  as  it  chanced,  Hewitt  had 
not  read. 

The  building  was  one  of  a  new  row  in  a  partly 
rebuilt  street  near  the  National  Gallery.  The  whole 
row  had  been  built  by  a  speculator  for  the  purpose 
of  letting  out  in  flats,  suites  of  chambers,  and  in 
one  or  two  cases,  on  the  ground  floors,  offices.  The 
rooms  had  let  very  well,  and  to  desirable  tenants, 
as  a  rule.  The  least  satisfactory  tenant,  the  pro- 
prietor reluctantly  admitted,  was  a  Mr.  Eameau, 
a  negro  gentleman,  single,  who  had  three  rooms  on 
the  top  floor  but  one  of  the  particular  building  that 
Hewitt  was  visiting.  His  rent  was  paid  regularly, 
but  his  behavior  had  produced  complaints  from 
other  tenants.  He  got  uproariously  drunk,  and 
screamed  and  howled  in  unknown  tongues.  He  fell 
asleep  on  the  staircase,  and  ladies  were  afraid  to 
pass.  He  bawled  rough  chaff  down  the  stairs  and 
along  the  corridors  at  butcher  boys  and  messen- 
gers, and  played  on  errand  boys  brutal  practical 
jokes  that  ended  in  police-court  summonses.  He 
once  had  a  way  of  sliding  down  the  balusters,  shout- 
ing :  "  Ho  !  ho !  ho  !  yah  ! "  as  he  went,  but  as  he 
was  a  big,  heavy  man,  and  the  balusters  had  been 
built  for  different  treatment,  he  had  very  soon  and 
very  firmly  been  requested  to  stop  it.  He  had 
plenty  of  money,  and  spent  it  freely ;  but  it  was 
generally  felt  that  there  was  too  much  of  the  light- 
hearted  savage  about  him  to  fit  him  to  live  among 
quiet  people. 

How  much  longer  the  landlord  would  have  stood 


194  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

this  sort  of  tiling,  Hewitt's  informant  said,  was  a 
matter  of  conjecture,  for  on  the  Saturday  afternoon 
in  question  the  tenancy  had  come  to  a  startling  full- 
stop.  Eameau  had  been  murdered  in  his  room,  and 
the  body  had,  in  the  most  unaccountable  fashion, 
been  secretly  removed  from  the  premises. 

The  strongest  possible  suspicion  pointed  to  a  man 
who  had  been  employed  in  shovelling  and  carrying 
coals,  cleaning  windows,  and  chopping  wood  for 
several  of  the  buildings,  and  who  had  left  that  very 
Saturday.  The  crime  had,  in  fact,  been  committed 
with  this  man's  chopper,  and  the  man  himself  had 
been  heard,  again  and  again,  to  threaten  Rameau, 
who  in  his  brutal  fashion  had  made  a  butt  of  him. 
This  man  was  a  Frenchman,  Victor  Goujon  by 
name,  who  had  lost  his  employment  as  a  watch- 
maker by  reason  of  an  injury  to  his  right  hand, 
which  destroyed  its  steadiness,  and  so  he  had  fallen 
upon  evil  days  and  odd  jobs. 

He  was  a  little  man,  of  no  great  strength,  but 
extraordinarily  excitable,  and  the  coarse  gibes  and 
horse-play  of  the  big  negro  drove  him  almost  to  mad- 
ness. Rameau  would  often,  after  some  more  than 
ordinarily  outrageous  attack,  contemptuously  fling 
Goujon  a  shilling,  which  the  little  Frenchman, 
although  wanting  a  shilling  badly  enough,  would 
hurl  back  in  his  face,  almost  weeping  with  impotent 
rage.  "  Pig !  Canaille  /  "  he  would  scream.  "  Dirty 
pig  of  Africa !  Take  your  sheelin'  to  vere  you  'ave 
stole  it !     Voleur  !    Pig !  " 

There  was  a  tortoise  living  in  the  basement,  of 
which  Goujon  had  made  rather  a  pet,  and  the  negro 
would  sometimes  use  this  animal  as  a  missile,  fling- 


THE  AFFAIR  OF  THE  TORTOISE  195 

ing  it  at  the  little  Frenchman's  head.  On  one  such 
occasion  the  tortoise  struck  the  wall  so  forcibly  as 
to  break  its  shell,  and  then  Goujon  seized  a  shovel 
and  rushed  at  his  tormentor  with  such  blind  fury 
that  the  latter  made  a  bolt  of  it.  These  were  but  a 
few  of  the  passages  between  Rameau  and  the  fuel- 
porter,  but  they  illustrate  the  state  of  feeling  be- 
tween them. 

Goujon,  after  correspondence  with  a  relative  in 
France  who  offered  him  work,  gave  notice  to  leave, 
which  expired  on  the  day  of  the  crime.  At  about 
three  that  afternoon  a  house-maid,  proceeding  toward 
Rameau' s  rooms,  met  Goujon  as  he  was  going  away0 
Goujon  bade  her  good-by,  and,  pointing  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Rameau's  rooms,  said  exultantly:  "Dere 
shall  be  no  more  of  the  black  pig  for  me  ;  vit  'im  I 
'ave  done  for.  Zut !  I  mock  me  of  'im !  'E  vill 
never  tracasser  me  no  more."     And  he  went  away. 

The  girl  went  to  the  outer  door  of  Rameau's 
rooms,  knocked,  and  got  no  reply.  Concluding  that 
the  tenant  was  out,  she  was  about  to  use  her  keys, 
when  she  found  that  the  door  was  unlocked.  She 
passed  through  the  lobby  and  into  the  sitting-room, 
and  there  fell  in  a  dead  faint  at  the  sight  that  met 
her  eyes.  Rameau  lay  with  his  back  across  the 
sofa  and  his  head  drooping  within  an  inch  of  the 
ground.  On  the  head  was  a  fearful  gash,  and  below 
it  was  a  pool  of  blood. 

The  girl  must  have  lain  unconscious  for  about  ten 
minutes.  When  she  came  to  her  senses,  she  dragged 
herself,  terrified,  from  the  room  and  up  to  the 
housekeeper's  apartments,  where,  being  an  excita- 
ble and  nervous  creature,  she  only  screamed  "Mur- 


196  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

der  ! "  and  immediately  fell  in  a  fit  of  hysterics  that 
lasted  three- quarters  of  an  hour.  When  at  last  she 
came  to  herself,  she  told  her  story,  and,  the  hall- 
porter  having  been  summoned,  Rameau's  rooms 
were  again  approached. 

The  blood  still  lay  on  the  floor,  and  the  chopper, 
with  which  the  crime  had  evidently  been  committed, 
rested  against  the  fender ;  but  the  body  had  van- 
ished !  A  search  was  at  once  made,  but  no  trace  of 
it  could  be  seen  anywhere.  It  seemed  impossible 
that  it  could  have  been  carried  out  of  the  building, 
for  the  hall-porter  must  at  once  have  noticed  any 
body  leaving  with  so  bulky  a  burden.  Still,  in  the 
building  it  was  not  to  be  found. 

When  Hewitt  was  informed  of  these  things  on 
Monday,  the  police  were,  of  course,  still  in  posses- 
sion of  Rameau's  rooms.  Inspector  Nettings, 
Hewitt  was  told,  was  in  charge  of  the  case,  and  as 
the  inspector  was  an  acquaintance  of  his,  and  was 
then  in  the  rooms  upstairs,  Hewitt  went  up  to  see 
him. 

Nettings  was  pleased  to  see  Hewitt,  and  invited 
him  to  look  round  the  rooms.  "  Perhaps  you  can 
spot  something  we  have  overlooked,"  he  said. 
"  Though  it's  not  a  case  there  can  be  much  doubt 
about." 

"  You  think  it's  Goujon,  don't  you  ? " 

"  Think  ?  Well,  rather !  Look  here !  As  soon 
as  we  got  here  on  Saturday,  we  found  this  piece  of 
paper  and  pin  on  the  floor.  We  showed  it  to  the 
house-maid,  and  then  she  remembered — she  was  too 
much  upset  to  think  of  it  before — that  when  she 
was  in  the  room  the  paper  was  lying  on  the  dead 


THE  AFFAIR  OF  THE  TORTOISE  197 

man's  chest — pinned  there,  evidently.  It  must 
have  dropped  off  when  they  removed  the  body. 
It's  a  case  of  half-mad  revenge  on  Goujon's  part, 
plainly.     See  it ;  you  read  French,  don't  you  I" 

The  paper  was  a  plain,  large  half  sheet  of  note- 
paper,  on  which  a  sentence  in  French  was  scrawled 
in  red  ink  in  a  large,  clumsy  hand,  thus  : 

punipar  un  vengeur  de  la  tortue. 

"  Puni  par  un  vengeur  de  la  tortue"  Hewitt 
repeated  musingly.  "  'Punished  by  an  avenger  of 
the  tortoise.'     That  seems  odd." 

"Well,  rather  odd.  But  you  understand  the 
reference,  of  course.  Have  they  told  you  about 
Rameau's  treatment  of  Goujon's  pet  tortoise?" 

"I  think  it  was  mentioned  among  his  other 
pranks.  But  this  is  an  extreme  revenge  for  a  thing 
of  that  sort,  and  a  queer  way  of  announcing  it." 

"Oh,  he's  mad— mad  with  Rameau's  continual 
ragging  and  baiting,"  Nettings  answered.  "Any 
way,  this  is  a  plain  indication — plain  as  though  he'd 
left  his  own  signature.  Besides,  it's  in  his  own 
language— French.    And  there's  his  chopper,  too." 

"Speaking  of  signatures,"  Hewitt  remarked, 
"perhaps  you  have  already  compared  this  with 
other  specimens  of  Goujon's  writing  I " 

"  I  did  think  of  it,  but  they  don't  seem  to  have 
a  specimen  to  hand,  and,  any  way,  it  doesn'  t  seem 
very  important.  There's  '  avenger  of  the  tortoise ' 
plain  enough,  in  the  man's  own  language,  and  that 
tells  every  thing.  Besides,  handwritings  are  easily 
disguised." 

"Have  you  got  Goujon ? " 


198  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

"  Well,  no  ;  we  haven't.  There  seems  to  be  some 
little  difficulty  about  that.  But  I  expect  to  have 
him  by  this  time  to-morrow.  Here  comes  Mr. 
Styles,  the  landlord." 

Mr.  Styles  was  a  thin,  querulous,  and  withered- 
looking  little  man,  who  twitched  his  eyebrows  as 
he  spoke,  and  spoke  in  short,  jerky  phrases. 

"No  news,  eh,  inspector,  eh?  eh?  Found  out 
nothing  else,  eh  ?  Terrible  thing  for  my  property — 
terrible  !    Who's  your  friend  ?  " 

Nettings  introduced  Hewitt. 

"  Shocking  thing  this,  eh,  Mr.  Hewitt  ?  Terrible ! 
Comes  of  having  any  thing  to  do  with  these  blood- 
thirsty foreigners,  eh  I  New  buildings  and  all — 
character  ruined.  No  one  come  to  live  here  now, 
eh  ?  Tenants — noisy  niggers — murdered  by  my  own 
servants — terrible  !    You  formed  any  opinion,  eh  ? " 

"  I  dare  say  I  might  if  I  went  into  the  case." 

"Yes,  yes — same  opinion  as  inspector's,  eh? 
I  mean  an  opinion  of  your  own  ?"  The  old  man 
scrutinized  Hewitt's  face  sharply. 

"If  you'd  like  me  to  look  into  the  matter " 

Hewitt  began. 

"  Eh  ?  Oh,  look  into  it !  Well,  I  can't  commis- 
sion you,  you  know — matter  for  the  police.  Mis- 
chief's done.  Police  doing  very  well,  I  think — 
must  be  Goujon.  But  look  about  the  place,  cer- 
tainly, if  you  like.  If  you  see  any  thing  likely  to 
serve  my  interests,  tell  me,  and— and— perhaps  I'll 
employ  you,  eh,  eh?    Good-afternoon." 

The  landlord  vanished,  and  the  inspector 
laughed.  "Likes  to  see  what  he's  buying,  does 
Mr,  Styles,"  he  said. 


THE  AFFAIR  OF  THE  TORTOISE  199 

Hewitt's  first  impulse  was  to  walk  out  of  the 
place  at  once.  But  his  interest  in  the  case  had 
been  roused,  and  he  determined,  at  any  rate,  to 
examine  the  rooms,  and  this  he  did  very  minutely. 
By  the  side  of  the  lobby  was  a  bath-room,  and  in 
this  was  fitted  a  tip-up  wash-basin,  which  Hewitt 
inspected  with  particular  attention.  Then  he  called 
the  housekeeper,  and  made  enquiries  about 
Rameau's  clothes  and  linen.  The  housekeeper 
could  give  no  idea  of  how  many  overcoats  or  how 
much  linen  he  had  had.  He  had  all  a  negro's 
love  of  display,  and  was  continually  buying  new 
clothes,  which,  indeed,  were  lying,  hanging,  litter- 
ing, and  choking  up  the  bedroom  in  all  directions. 
The  housekeeper,  however,  on  Hewitt's  enquiring 
after  such  a  garment  in  particular,  did  remember 
one  heavy  black  ulster,  which  Rameau  had  very 
rarely  worn — only  in  the  coldest  weather. 

"  After  the  body  was  discovered,"  Hewitt  asked 
the  housekeeper,  "was  any  stranger  observed 
about  the  place— whether  carrying  any  thing  or 
not?" 

"No,  sir,"  the  housekeeper  replied.  "There's 
been  particular  enquiries  about  that.  Of  course, 
after  we  knew  what  was  wrong  and  the  body  was 
gone,  nobody  was  seen,  or  he'd  have  been  stopped. 
But  the  hall-porter  says  he's  certain  no  stranger 
came  or  went  for  half-an-hour  or  more  before  that 
— the  time  about  when  the  house-maid  saw  the 
body  and  fainted." 

At  this  moment  a  clerk  from  the  landlord's  office 
arrived  and  handed  Nettings  a  paper.  "  Here  you 
are,"  said  Nettings  to  Hewitt ;  "  they've  found  a 


200  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

specimen  of  Gorgon's  handwriting  at  last,  if  you'd 
like  to  see  it.  I  don't  want  it ;  I'm  not  a  graphol- 
ogist, and  the  case  is  clear  enough  for  me  any  way." 

Hewitt  took  the  paper.  "This,"  he  said,  "is  a 
different  sort  of  handwriting  from  that  on  the 
paper.  The  red-ink  note  about  the  avenger  of  the 
tortoise  is  in  a  crude,  large,  clumsy,  untaught  style 
of  writing.  This  is  small,  neat,  and  well  formed — 
except  that  it  is  a  trifle  shaky,  probably  because  of 
the  hand  injury." 

"  That's  nothing,"  contended  Nettings-;  "hand- 
writing clues  are  worse  than  useless,  as  a  rule.  It's 
so  easy  to  disguise  and  imitate  writing ;  and 
besides,  if  Goujon  is  such  a  good  penman  as  you 
seem  to  say,  why,  he  could  all  the  easier  alter  his 
style.  Say  now  yourself,  can  any  fiddling  question 
of  handwriting  get  over  this  thing  about  '  avenging 
the  tortoise' — practically  a  written  confession  ?  To 
say  nothing  of  the  chopper,  and  what  he  said  to 
the  house-maid  as  he  left." 

1 * Well,"  said  Hewitt,  "perhaps  not;  but  we'll 
see.  Meantime ' '  — turning  to  the  landlord' s  clerk — 
"  possibly  you  will  be  good  enough  to  tell  me  one  or 
two  things.     First,  what  was  Goujon's  character? " 

"  Excellent,  as  far  as  we  know.  We  never  had  a 
complaint  about  him  except  for  little  matters  of 
carelessness — leaving  coal-scuttles  on  the  staircases 
for  people  to  fall  over,  losing  shovels,  and  so  on. 
He  was  certainly  a  bit  careless,  but,  as  far  as  we 
could  see,  quite  a  decent  little  fellow.  One  would 
never  have  thought  him  capable  of  committing  mur- 
der for  the  sake  of  a  tortoise,  though  he  was  rather 
fond  of  the  animal." 


THE  AFFAIR  OF  THE  TORTOISE  201 

"  The  tortoise  is  dead  now,  I  understand? " 
"Yes." 

"Have  you  a  lift  in  this  building?" 
"  Only  for  coals  and  heavy  parcels.     Goujon  used 
to  work  it,  sometimes  going  up  and  down  in  it 
himself  with  coals,  and  so  on  ;  it  goes  into  the 
basement." 

"  And  are  the  coals  kept  under  this  building? " 
"  No.     The  store  for  the  whole  row  is  under  the 
next  two  houses — the  basements  communicate." 
"  Do  you  know  Rameau's  other  name?" 
"  Cesar  Rameau  he  signed  in  our  agreement." 
"  Did  he  ever  mention  his  relations  ?" 
"  No.     That  is  to  say,  he  did  say  something  one 
day  when  he  was  very  drunk  ;  but,  of  course,  it 
was  all  rot.     Some  one  told  him  not  to  make  such 
a  row, — he  was  a  beastly  tenant, — and  he  said  he 
was  the  best  man  in  the  place,  and  his  brother  was 
Prime  Minister,   and  all  sorts  of   things.      Mere 
drunken  rant !    I  never  heard  of  his  saying  any 
thing  sensible  about  relations.     We  know  nothing 
of  his  connections ;   he  came  here  on  a  banker's 
reference." 

"  Thanks.  I  think  that's  all  I  want  to  ask.  You 
notice,"  Hewitt  proceeded,  turning  to  Nettings, 
"  the  only  ink  in  this  place  is  scented  and  violet, 
and  the  only  paper  is  tinted  and  scented,  too,  with 
a  monogram — characteristic  of  a  negro  with  money. 
The  paper  that  was  pinned  on  Rameau's  breast  is 
in  red  ink  on  common  and  rather  grubby  paper, 
therefore  it  was  written  somewhere  else  and  brought 
here.     Inference,  premeditation." 

"  Yes,  yes.    But  are  you  an  inch  nearer  with  all 


202  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

these  speculations  ?  Can  you  get  nearer  than  I  am 
now  without  them  % " 

"  Well,  perhaps  not,"  Hewitt  replied.  "  I  don't 
profess  at  this  moment  to  know  the  criminal;  you 
do.  I'll  concede  you  that  point  for  the  present. 
But  you  don't  offer  an  opinion  as  to  who  removed 
Rameau's  body — which  I  think  I  know." 

"  Who  was  it,  then?" 

"Come,  try  and  guess  that  yourself.  It  wasn't 
Goujon  ;  I  don't  mind  letting  you  know  that.  But 
it  was  a  person  quite  within  your  knowledge  of  the 
case.  You've  mentioned  the  person's  name  more 
than  once." 

Nettings  stared  blankly.  "I  don't  understand 
you  in  the  least,"  he  said.  "But,  of  course,  you 
mean  that  this  mysterious  person  you  speak  of  as 
having  moved  the  body  committed  the  murder  ? " 

"No,  I  don't.  Nobody  could  have  been  more 
innocent  of  that." 

"Well,"  Nettings  concluded  with  resignation, 
"I'm  afraid  one  of  us  is  rather  thick-headed. 
What  will  you  do  i " 

"  Interview  the  person  who  took  away  the  body," 
Hewitt  replied,  with  a  smile. 

"  But,  man  alive,  why  ?  Why  bother  about  the 
person  if  it  isn't  the  criminal  ? " 

"  Never  mind — never  mind  ;  probably  the  person 
will  be  a  most  valuable  witness." 

"Do  you  mean  you  think  this  person — whoever 
it  is — saw  the  crime  ?" 

"  I  think  it  very  probable  indeed." 

"Well,  I  won't  ask  you  any  more.  I  shall  get 
hold  of  Goujon ;  that's  simple  and  direct  enough 


THE  AFFAIR  OF  THE  TORTOISE  203 

for  me.  I  prefer  to  deal  with  the  heart  of  the  case — 
the  murder  itself — when  there's  such  clear  evidence 
as  I  have." 

"I  shall  look  a  little  into  that,  too,  perhaps," 
Hewitt  said,  "  and,  if  you  like,  I'll  tell  you  the  first 
thing  I  shall  do." 

"  What's  that?" 

"  I  shall  have  a  good  look  at  a  map  of  the  West 
Indies,  and  I  advise  you  to  do  the  same.  Good- 
morning." 

Nettings  stared  down  the  corridor  after  Hewitt, 
and  continued  staring  for  nearly  two  minutes  after 
he  had  disappeared.  Then  he  said  to  the  clerk, 
who  had  remained :  ' '  What  was  he  talking  about  I ' ' 

"Don't  know,"  replied  the  clerk.  "Couldn't 
make  head  or  tail  of  it." 

"  I  don't  believe  there  is  2l  head  to  it,"  declared 
Nettings;  "  nor  a  tail  either.    He's  kidding  us." 

Nettings  was  better  than  his  word,  for  within  two 
hours  of  his  conversation  with  Hewitt  Goujon  was 
captured  and  safe  in  a  cab  bound  for  Bow  Street. 
He  had  been  stopped  at  Newhaven  in  the  morning 
on  his  way  to  Dieppe,  and  was  brought  back  to 
London.     But  now  Nettings  met  a  check. 

Late  that  afternoon  he  called  on  Hewitt  to  ex- 
plain matters.  "We've  got  Goujon,"  he  said 
gloomily,  "but  there's  a  difficulty.  He's  got  two 
friends  who  can  swear  an  alibi.  Rameau  was  seen 
alive  at  half-past  one  on  Saturday,  and  the  girl 
found  him  dead  about  three.  Now,  Goujon' s  two 
friends,  it  seems,  were  with  him  from  one  o'clock 
till  four  in  the  afternoon,  with  the  exception  of  five 


204  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

minutes  when  the  girl  saw  him,  and  then  he  left 
them  to  take  a  key  or  something  to  the  housekeeper 
before  finally  leaving.  They  were  waiting  on  the 
landing  below  when  Groujon  spoke  to  the  house- 
maid, heard  him  speaking,  and  had  seen  him  go  all 
the  way  up  to  the  housekeeper's  room  and  back, 
as  they  looked  up  the  wide  well  of  the  staircase. 
They  are  men  employed  near  the  place,  and  seem 
to  have  good  characters.  But  perhaps  we  shall 
find  something  unfavorable  about  them.  They 
were  drinking  with  Goujon,  it  seems,  by  way  of 
'  seeing  him  off.'  " 

"Well,"  Hewitt  said,  "I  scarcely  think  you 
need  trouble  to  damage  these  men's  characters. 
They  are  probably  telling  the  truth.  Come,  now, 
be  plain.  You've  come  here  to  get  a  hint  as  to 
whether  my  theory  of  the  case  helps  you,  haven't 
you?" 

' 'Well,  if  you  can  give  me  a  friendly  hint, 
although,  of  course,  I  may  be  right,  after  all.  Still, 
I  wish  you'd  explain  a  bit  as  to  what  you  meant  by 
looking  at  a  map  and  all  that  mystery.  Nice  thing 
for  me  to  be  taking  a  lesson  in  my  own  business 
after  all  these  years !    But  perhaps  I  deserve  it." 

"  See,  now,"  quoth  Hewitt,  "  you  remember  what 
map  I  told  you  to  look  at  1 " 

"  The  West  Indies." 

"  Eight !  Well,  here  you  are."  Hewitt  reached 
an  atlas  from  his  book-shelf.  "Now,  look  here: 
the  biggest  island  of  the  lot  on  this  map,  barring 
Cuba,  is  Hayti.  You  know  as  well  as  I  do  that  the 
western  part  of  that  island  is  peopled  by  the  black 
republic  of  Hayti,  and  that  the  country  is  in  a 


THE  AFFAIR  OF  THE  TORTOISE  205 

degenerate  state  of  almost  unexampled  savagery, 
with  a  ridiculous  show  of  civilization.  There  are 
revolutions  all  the  time;  the  South  American  re- 
publics are  peaceful  and  prosperous  compared  to 
Hayti.  The  state  of  the  country  is  simply  awful — 
read  Sir  Spenser  St.  John's  book  on  it.  President 
after  president  of  the  vilest  sort  forces  his  way  to 
power  and  commits  the  most  horrible  and  blood- 
thirsty excesses,  murdering  his  opponents  by  the 
hundred  and  seizing  their  property  for  himself  and 
his  satellites,  who  are  usually  as  bad,  if  not  worse 
than  the  president  himself.  Whole  families — men, 
women,  and  children — are  murdered  at  the  instance 
of  these  ruffians,  and,  as  a  consequence,  the  most 
deadly  feuds  spring  up,  and  the  presidents  and  their 
followers  are  always  themselves  in  danger  of  re- 
prisals from  others.  Perhaps  the  very  worst  of  these 
presidents  in  recent  times  has  been  the  notorious 
Domingue,  who  was  overthrown  by  an  insurrection, 
as  they  all  are  sooner  or  later,  and  compelled  to  fly 
the  country.  Domingue  and  his  nephews,  one  of 
whom  was  Chief  Minister,  while  in  power  com- 
mitted the  cruellest  bloodshed,  and  many  members 
of  the  opposite  party  sought  refuge  in  a  small 
island  lying  just  to  the  north  of  Hayti,  but  were 
sought  out  there  and  almost  exterminated.  ISTow, 
I  will  show  you  that  island  on  the  map.  What  is 
its  name?" 

"Tortuga." 

"It  is.  'Tortuga,'  however,  is  only  the  old 
Spanish  name  ;  the  Haytians  speak  French — Creole 
French.  Here  is  a  French  atlas  :  now  see  the  name 
of  that  island." 


206  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

"La  Tortue!" 

"La  Tortue  it  is— the  tortoise.  Tortuga  means 
the  same  thing  in  Spanish.  But  that  island  is 
always  spoken  of  in  Hayti  as  La  Tortue.  Now,  do 
you  see  the  drift  of  that  paper  pinned  to  Rameau' s 
breast?" 

u  Punished  by  an  avenger  of — or  from — the  tor- 
toise or  La  Tortue — clear  enough.  It  would  seem 
that  the  dead  man  had  something  to  do  with  the 
massacre  there,  and  somebody  from  the  island  is 
avenging  it.     The  thing's  most  extraordinary." 

"And  now  listen.  The  name  of  Domingue's 
nephew,  who  was  Chief  Minister,  was  Septimus 
Rameau" 

"  And  this  was  Cesar  Rameau — his  brother,  prob- 
ably.   I  see.    Well,  this  is  a  case." 

"I  think  the  relationship  probable.  Now  you 
understand  why  I  was  inclined  to  doubt  that  Gou- 
jon  was  the  man  you  wanted." 

"Of  course,  of  course!  And  now  I  suppose  I 
must  try  to  get  a  nigger — the  chap  who  wrote  that 
paper.  I  wish  he  hadn't  been  such  an  ignorant 
nigger.  If  he'd  only  have  put  the  capitals  to 
the  words  'La  Tortue,'  I  might  have  thought  a 
little  more  about  them,  instead  of  taking  it  for 
granted  that  they  meant  that  wretched  tortoise 
in  the  basement  of  the  house.  Well,  I've  made 
a  fool  of  a  start,  but  I'll  be  after  that  nigger 
now." 

"And  I,  as  I  said  before,"  said  Hewitt,  "shall 
be  after  the  person  that  carried  off  Rameau' s  body. 
I  have  had  something  else  to  do  this  afternoon,  or 
I  should  have  begun  already." 


THE  AFFAIR  OF  THE  TOETOISE  207 

*  You  said  you  thought  he  saw  the  crime.  How 
did  you  judge  that  I7' 

Hewitt  smiled.  "I  think  I'll  keep  that  little 
secret  to  myself  for  the  present,"  he  said.  "  You 
shall  know  soon." 

"  Yery  well,"  Nettings  replied  with  resignation. 
"  I  suppose  I  mustn't  grumble  if  you  don't  tell  me 
every  thing.  I  feel  too  great  a  fool  altogether  over 
this  case  to  see  any  further  than  you  show  me." 
And  Inspector  Nettings  left  on  his  search  ;  while 
Martin  Hewitt,  as  soon  as  he  was  alone,  laughed 
joyously  and  slapped  his  thigh. 

There  was  a  cab-rank  and  shelter  at  the  end  of 
the  street  where  Mr.  Styles' s  building  stood,  and 
early  that  evening  a  man  approached  it  and  hailed 
the  cabmen  and  the  waterman.  Any  one  would 
have  known  the  new-comer  at  once  for  a  cabman 
taking  a  holiday.  The  brim  of  the  hat,  the  bird's- 
eye  neckerchief,  the  immense  coat-buttons,  and, 
more  than  all,  the  rolling  walk  and  the  wrinkled 
trousers,  marked  him  out  distinctly. 

"  Watcheer !  "  he  exclaimed  affably,  with  the 
self-possessed  nod  only  possible  to  cabbies  and 
'busmen.  "I'm  a-lookin'  for  a  bilker.  I'm  told  one 
o'  the  blokes  off  this  rank  carried  'im  last  Satur- 
day, and  I  want  to  know  where  he  went.  I  ain't 
'ad  a  chance  o'  get  tin'  'is  address  yet.  Took  a 
cab  just  as  it  got  dark,  I'm  told.  Tallish  chap, 
muffled  up  a  lot,  in  a  long  black  overcoat.  Any  of 
ye  seen  'im  ?" 

The  cabbies  looked  at  one  another  and  shook 
their  heads  ;    it  chanced  that  none  of  them  had 


208  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

been  on  that  particular  rank  at  that  time.  But  the 
waterman  said :  "  'Old  on — I  bet  'e's  the  bloke  wot 
old  Bill  Stammers  took.  Yorkeywas  fust  on  the 
rank,  but  the  bloke  wouldn't  ?ave  a  'ansom — 
wanted  a  four-wheeler,  so  old  Bill  took  'im.  Big- 
gish chap  in  a  long  black  coat,  collar  up  an'  muffled 
thick  ;  soft  wideawake  'at,  pulled  over  'is  eyes  ; 
and  he  was  in  a  'urry,  too.  Jumped  in  sharp  as  a 
weasel." 

" Didn't  see  'is  face,  did  ye?" 

" No— not  an  inch  of  it;  too  much  muffled. 
Couldn't  tell  if  he  'ad  a  face." 

"  Was  his  arm  in  a  sling  1 " 

"  Ay,  it  looked  so.  Had  it  stuffed  through  the 
breast  of  his  coat,  like  as  though  there  might  be  a 
sling  inside." 

"That's  'im.  Any  of  ye  tell  me  where  I  might 
run  across  old  Bill  Stammers  ?  He'll  tell  me  where 
my  precious  bilker  went  to." 

As  to  this  there  was  plenty  of  information,  and 
in  five  minutes  Martin  Hewitt,  who  had  become  an 
unoccupied  cabman  for  the  occasion,  was  on  his  way 
to  find  old  Bill  Stammers.  That  respectable  old 
man  gave  him  exact  particulars  as  to  the  place  in 
the  East  End  where  he  had  driven  his  muffled  fare 
on  Saturday,  and  soon  Hewitt  had  begun  an  eighteen 
or  twenty  hours'  search  beyond  Whitechapel. 

At  about  three  on  Tuesday  afternoon,  as  Nettings 
was  in  the  act  of  leaving  Bow  Street  Police-Station, 
Hewitt  drove  up  in  a  four-wheeler.  Some  prisoner 
appeared  to  be  crouching  low  in  the  vehicle,  but, 
leaving  him  to  take  care  of  himself,  Hewitt  hurried 


"WHAT  !   YOU  ?" 


THE  AFFAIR  OF  THE  TORTOISE  209 

into  the  station  and  shook  Nettings  by  the  hand. 
"  Well,"  he  said,  "have  you  got  the  murderer  of 
Rameau  yet?" 

"No,"  Nettings  growled.  "Unless — well,  Gou- 
jon's  under  remand  still,  and,  after  all,  I've  been 
thinking  that  he  may  know  something " 

" Pooh,  nonsense !  "  Hewitt  answered.  "You'd 
better  let  him  go.  Now,  I  have  got  somebody." 
Hewitt  laughed  and  slapped  the  inspector's  shoul- 
der "I've  got  the  man  who  carried  Rameau's 
body  away ! " 

"  The  deuce  you  have !  Where  ?  Bring  him  in. 
We  must  have  him " 

"  All  right,  don't  be  in  a  hurry  ;  he  won't  bolt." 
And  Hewitt  stepped  out  to  the  cab  and  produced 
his  prisoner,  who,  pulling  his  hat  further  over  his 
eyes,  hurried  furtively  into  the  station.  One  hand 
was  stowed  in  the  breast  of  his  long  coat,  and  below 
the  wide  brim  of  his  hat  a  small  piece  of  white  band- 
age could  be  seen  ;  and,  as  he  lifted  his  face,  it  was 
seen  to  be  that  of  a  negro. 

"Inspector  Nettings,"  Hewitt  said  ceremoni- 
ously, "allow  me  to  introduce  Mr.  Cesar  RA- 
MEAU !" 

Nettings  gasped. 

"What!"  he  at  length  ejaculated.  "What! 
You — you're  Rameau  ? " 

The  negro  looked  round  nervously,  and  shrank 
further  from  the  door. 

u  Yes,"  he  said;  "but  please  not  so  loud — please 
not  loud.     Zey  may  be  near,  and  I'm  'fraid." 

"  You  will  certify,  will  you  not,"  asked  Hewitt, 
with  malicious  glee,  "not  only  that  you  were  not 


210  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

murdered  last  Saturday  by  Victor  Goujon,  but  that, 
in  fact,  you  were  not  murdered  at  all  ?  Also,  that 
you  carried  your  own  body  away  in  the  usual 
fashion,  on  your  own  legs?" 

"Yes,  yes,"  responded  Eameau,  looking  hag- 
gardly about ;  "  but  is  not  zis — zis  room  publique  ? 
I  should  not  be  seenD" 

"Nonsense!"  replied  Hewitt  rather  testily; 
"you  exaggerate  your  danger  and  your  own  im- 
portance, and  your  enemies'  abilities  as  well. 
You're  safe  enough." 

"  I  suppose,  then,"  Nettings  remarked  slowly, 
like  a  man  on  whose  mind  something  vast  was  be- 
ginning to  dawn,  "I  suppose — why,  hang  it,  you 
must  have  just  got  up  while  that  fool  of  a  girl  was 
screaming  and  fainting  upstairs,  and  walked  out. 
They  say  there's  nothing  so  hard  as  a  nigger's  skull, 
and  yours  has  certainly  made  a  fool  of  me.  But, 
then,  somebody  must  have  chopped  you  over  the 
head  ;  who  was  it  ? " 

"My  enemies  —  my  great  enemies  —  enemies 
politique.  lam  a  great  man" — this  with  a  faint 
revival  of  vanity  amid  his  fear — "a  great  man  in 
my  countree.  Zey  have  great  secret  club-sieties  to 
kill  me — me  and  my  fren's  ;  and  one  enemy  coming 
in  my  rooms  does  zis — one,  two" — he  indicated 
wrist  and  head — "  wiz  a  choppa." 

Kameau  made  the  case  plain  to  Nettings,  so  far 
as  the  actual  circumstances  of  the  assault  on  him- 
self were  concerned.  A  negro  whom  he  had  noticed 
near  the  place  more  than  once  during  the  previous 
day  or  two  had  attacked  him  suddenly  in  his 
rooms,  dealing  him  two  savage  blows  with  a  chop- 


THE  AFFAIR  OF  THE  TORTOISE  211 

per.  The  first  he  had  caught  on  his  wrist,  which 
was  seriously  damaged,  as  well  as  excruciatingly 
painful,  but  the  second  had  taken  effect  on  his 
head.  His  assailant  had  evidently  gone  away  then, 
leaving  him  for  dead ;  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  he 
was  only  stunned  by  the  shock,  and  had,  thanks  to 
the  adamantine  thickness  of  the  negro  skull  and 
the  ill  direction  of  the  chopper,  only  a  very  bad 
scalp-wound,  the  bone  being  no  more  than  grazed. 
He  had  lain  insensible  for  some  time,  and  must 
have  come  to  his  senses  soon  after  the  house-maid 
had  left  the  room.  Terrified  at  the  knowledge  that 
his  enemies  had  found  him  out,  his  only  thought 
was  to  get  away  and  hide  himself.  He  hastily 
washed  and  tied  up  his  head,  enveloped  himself  in 
the  biggest  coat  he  could  find,  and  let  himself  down 
into  the  basement  by  the  coal-lift,  for  fear  of  obser- 
vation. He  waited  in  the  basement  of  one  of  the 
adjoining  buildings  till  dark  and  then  got  away  in 
a  cab,  with  the  idea  of  hiding  himself  in  the  East 
End.  He  had  had  very  little  money  with  him  on 
his  flight,  and  it  was  by  reason  of  this  circumstance 
that  Hewitt,  when  he  found  him,  had  prevailed  on 
him  to  leave  his  hiding-place,  since  it  would  be 
impossible  for  him  to  touch  any  of  the  large  sums 
of  money  in  the  keeping  of  his  bank  so  long  as  he 
was  supposed  to  be  dead.  With  much  difficulty, 
and  the  promise  of  ample  police  protection,  he  was 
at  last  convinced  that  it  would  be  safe  to  declare 
himself  and  get  his  property,  and  then  run  away 
and  hide  wherever  he  pleased. 

Nettings  and  Hewitt  strolled  off  together  for  a 
few  minutes   and  chatted,  leaving  the    wretched 


212  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

Rameau  to  cower  in  a  corner  among  several  police- 
men. 

"  Well,  Mr.  Hewitt,"  Nettings  said,  "  this  case 
has  certainly  been  a  shocking  beating  for  me.  I 
must  have  been  as  blind  as  a  bat  when  I  started 
on  it.  And  yet  I  don't  see  that  you  had  a  deal  to 
go  on  even  now.     What  struck  you  first  I " 

"  Well,  in  the  beginning  it  seemed  rather  odd  to 
me  that  the  body  should  have  been  taken  away, 
as  I  had  been  told  it  was,  after  the  written  paper 
had  been  pinned  on  it.  Why  should  the  murderer 
pin  a  label  on  the  body  of  his  victim  if  he  meant 
carrying  that  body  away  ?  Who  would  read  the 
label  and  learn  of  the  nature  of  the  revenge  grat- 
ified ?  Plainly,  that  indicated  that  the  person  who 
had  carried  away  the  body  was  not  the  person  who 
had  committed  the  murder.  But  as  soon  as  I  began 
to  examine  the  place  I  saw  the  probability  that 
there  was  no  murder,  after  all.  There  were  any 
number  of  indications  of  this  fact,  and  I  can't 
understand  your  not  observing  them.  First, 
although  there  was  a  good  deal  of  blood  on  the 
floor  just  below  where  the  house-maid  had  seen 
Rameau  lying,  there  was  none  between  that  place 
and  the  door.  Wow,  if  the  body  had  been  dragged, 
or  even  carried,  to  the  door,  blood  must  have 
become  smeared  about  the  floor3  or  at  least  there 
would  have  been  drops,  but  there  were  none,  and 
this  seemed  to  hint  that  the  corpse  might  have 
come  to  itself,  sat  up  on  the  sofa,  staunched  the 
wound,  and  walked  out.  I  reflected  at  once  that 
Rameau  was  a  full-blooded  negro,  and  that  a  negro's 
head  is   very    nearly    invulnerable  to  any  thing 


THE  AFFAIR  OF  THE  TORTOISE  213 

short  of  bullets.  Then,  if  the  body  had  been 
dragged  out,— as  such  a  heavy  body  must  have 
been, — almost  of  necessity  the  carpet  and  rugs 
would  show  signs  of  the  fact,  but  there  were  no 
such  signs.  But  beyond  these  there  was  the  fact 
that  no  long  black  overcoat  was  left  with  the  other 
clothes,  although  the  housekeeper  distinctly  remem- 
bered Rameau' s  possession  of  such  a  garment.  I 
judged  he  would  use  some  such  thing  to  assist  his 
disguise,  which  was  why  I  asked  her.  W7iy  he 
would  want  to  disguise  was  plain,  as  you  shall  see 
presently.  There  were  no  towels  left  in  the  bath- 
room ;  inference  :  used  for  bandages.  Every  thing 
seemed  to  show  that  the  only  person  responsible 
for  Rameau' s  removal  was  Rameau  himself.  Why, 
then,  had  he  gone  away  secretly  and  hurriedly, 
without  making  complaint,  and  why  had  he  stayed 
away  \  What  reason  would  he  have  for  doing  this 
if  it  had  been  Goujon  that  had  attacked  him? 
None.  Goujon  was  going  to  France.  Clearly, 
Rameau  was  afraid  of  another  attack  from  some 
implacable  enemy  whom  he  was  anxious  to  avoid — 
one  against  whom  he  feared  legal  complaint  or 
defence  would  be  useless.  This  brought  me  at 
once  to  the  paper  found  on  the  floor.  If  this  were 
the  work  of  Goujon  and  an  open  reference  to  his 
tortoise,  why  should  he  be  at  such  pains  to  dis- 
guise his  handwriting?  He  would  have  been 
already  pointing  himself  out  by  the  mere  mention 
of  the  tortoise.  And,  if  he  could  not  avoid  a 
shake  in  his  natural,  small  handwriting,  how  could 
he  have  avoided  it  in  a  large,  clumsy,  slowly  drawn, 
assumed  hand  ?    No,  the  paper  was  not  Goujon' s." 


214  MARTIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

"As  to  the  writing  on  the  paper,"  Nettings 
interposed,  "I've  told  you  how  I  made  that  mis- 
take. I  took  the  readiest  explanation  of  the  words, 
since  they  seemed  so  pat,  and  I  wouldn't  let  any 
thing  else  outweigh  that.  As  to  the  other  things — 
the  evidences  of  Rameau's  having  gone  off  by  him- 
self— well,  I  don't  usually  miss  such  obvious  things  ; 
but  I  never  thought  of  the  possibility  of  the  victim 
going  away  on  the  quiet  and  not  coming  back,  as 
though  he'd  done  something  wrong0  Comes  of 
starting  with  a  set  of  fixed  notions." 

"Well,"  answered  Hewitt,  UI  fancy  you  must 
have  been  rather  *  out  of  form,'  as  they  say  ;  every- 
body has  his  stupid  days,  and  you  can't  keep  up 
to  concert  pitch  forever.  To  return  to  the  case. 
The  evidence  of  the  chopper  was  very  untrust- 
worthy, especially  when  I  had  heard  of  Goujon's 
careless  habits — losing  shovels  and  leaving  coal- 
scuttles on  stairs.  Nothing  more  likely  than  for 
the  chopper  to  be  left  lying  about,  and  a  criminal 
who  had  calculated  his  chances  would  know  the 
advantage  to  himself  of  using  a  weapon  that 
belonged  to  the  place,  and  leaving  it  behind  to 
divert  suspicion.  It  is  quite  possible,  by  the  way, 
that  the  man  who  attacked  Ranieau  got  away  down 
the  coal-lift  and  out  by  an  adjoining  basement,  just 
as  did  Rameau  himself  ;  this,  however,  is  mere  con- 
jecture. The  would-be  murderer  had  plainly  pre- 
pared for  the  crime :  witness  the  previous  prepara- 
tion of  the  paper  declaring  his  revenge,  an  indica- 
tion of  his  pride  at  having  run  his  enemy  to  earth 
at  such  a  distant  place  as  this — although  I  expect 
be  was  only  in  England  by  chance,  for  Haytians, 


THE  AFFAIR  OF  THE  TORTOISE  215 

are  not  a  persistently  energetic  race.  In  regard  to 
the  nse  of  small  instead  of  capital  letters  in  the 
words  '  La  Tortue '  on  the  paper,  I  observed,  in  the 
beginning,  that  the  first  letter  of  the  whole  sentence 
— the  '  p '  in  '  puni ' — was  a  small  one.  Clearly,  the 
writer  was  an  illiterate  man,  and  it  was  at  once 
plain  that  he  may  have  made  the  same  mistake 
with  ensuing  words. 

"  On  the  whole,  it  was  plain  that  every-body  had 
begun  with  a  too  ready  disposition  to  assume  that 
Goujon  was  guilty.  Every-body  insisted,  too, 
that  the  body  had  been  carried  away, — which  was 
true,  of  course,  although  not  in  the  sense  intended, 
— so  I  didn't  trouble  to  contradict,  or  to  say  more 
than  that  I  guessed  who  had  carried  the  body  off. 
And,  to  tell  you  the  truth,  I  was  a  little  piqued  at 
Mr.  Styles' s  manner,  and  indisposed,  interested  in 
the  case  as  I  was,  to  give  away  my  theories  too 
freely. 

4  ■  The  rest  of  the  job  was  not  very  difficult*  I 
found  out  the  cabman  who  had  taken  Rameau 
away, — you  can  always  get  readier  help  from  cab- 
bies if  you  go  as  one  of  themselves,  especially  if 
you  are  after  a  bilker, — and  from  him  got  a  suffi- 
ciently near  East  End  direction  to  find  Rameau 
after  enquiries.  I  ventured,  by-the-way,  on  a 
rather  long  shot.  I  described  my  man  to  the 
cabman  as  having  an  injured  arm  or  wrist — arid 
it  turned  out  a  correct  guess.  You  see,  a  man 
making  an  attack  with  a  chopper  is  pretty  certain 
to  make  more  than  a  single  blow,  and  as  there 
appeared  to  have  been  only  a  single  wound  on  the 
head,  it  seemed  probable  that  another  had  fallen 


216  MAETIN  HEWITT,  INVESTIGATOR 

somewhere  else — almost  certainly  on  the  arm,  as 
it  would  be  raised  to  defend  the  head.  At  Lime- 
house  I  found  he  had  had  his  head  and  wrist 
attended  to  at  a  local  medico' s,  and  a  big  nig- 
ger in  a  fright,  with  a  long  black  coat,  a  broken 
head,  and  a  lame  hand,  is  not  so  difficult  to  find  in 
a  small  area.  How  I  persuaded  him  up  here  you 
know  already  ;  I  think  I  frightened  him  a  little, 
too,  by  explaining  how  easily  I  had  tracked  him, 
and  giving  him  a  hint  that  others  might  do  the 
same.  He  is  in  a  great  funk.  He  seems  to  have 
quite  lost  faith  in  England  as  a  safe  asylum." 

The  police  failed  to  catch  Rameau's  assailant — 
chiefly  because  Rameau  could  not  be  got  to  give  a 
proper  description  of  him,  nor  to  do  any  thing 
except  get  out  of  the  country  in  a  hurry.  In 
truth,  he  was  glad  to  be  quit  of  the  matter  with 
nothing  worse  than  his  broken  head.  Little  Gou- 
jon  made  a  wild  storm  about  his  arrest,  and  before 
he  did  go  to  France  managed  to  extract  twenty 
pounds  from  Rameau  by  way  of  compensation,  in 
spite  of  the  absence  of  any  strictly  legal  claim 
against  his  old  tormentor.  So  that,  on  the  whole, 
Goujon  was  about  the  only  person  who  derived  any 
particular  profit  from  the  tortoise  mystery. 


THE  END 


235478 


II 


CDMDDD7fi35 


Ill 


illlfllf 

Mill 

